Proceedings of the Musical Association

Proceedings of
the Musical
Association

Musical

Association (Great
Britain)

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PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

MUSICAL ASSOCIATION

FOR THE INVESTIGATION AND
DISCUSSION OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE
ART AND SCIENCE OF MUSIC.

FOUNDED MAY 29, 1874.

■

Tenth Session, 1883-84.

LONDON :

STANLEY LUCAS, WEBER & CO., 84, NEW BOND STREET, W.

1884.

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NOVRLLO, EWER & CO.
PRINTERS,
fg & 70, DRAN STREET, SOHO. W

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CONTENTS.

PAGE

On Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execu -
tion." By Dr. C. J. Frost i

" On Photographs of the Throat in Singing." By Emil

Behnki, Esq. ; 21

•• On Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work." By Prof. Sir

G. A. Macfarrbn 41

** On Form." By Ferdinand Praeger, Esq. 57

On Words for Music." By the Rev. M. E. Browne . . 73

On The Maltreatment of Music." By J. S. Shedlock,
Esq., B.A 95

•• On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition considered
educationally, and with special reference to current
systems of Musical Theory." By Gerard F. Cobb, Esq.,
M.A., Fell. Trin. Coll. Cam., Etc. Part I. . .125

•On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition considered
educationally, and with special reference to current
systems of Musical Theory." By Gerard F. Cobb, Esq.,
M.A., Fell. Trin. Coll. Cam., Etc. Part II. . 153

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MUSICAL ASSOCIATION.

FOR THE INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION OF SUBJECTS
CONNECTED WITH THE ART AND SCIENCE OF MUSIC.

FOUNDED MA Y 29, 1874.

(itouiml.

PRESIDENT.

Ouseley, The Rev. Sir Frederick A. Gore, Bart., M.A., Mus. Doc, Oxon.
Prof. Mus. Univ. Oxon.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Adams, William Grylls, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Professor King's College.
Bridge, F. J., Esq., Mus. Doc., Organist of Westminster Abbey.
Chappell, William, Esq., F.S.A.
Goldschmidt, Otto, Esq.
Grove, Sir George, D.C.L.

Hullah, John, Esq., LL.D., Hon. Mem. Acad. St. Cecilia, Rome.
Hiogs, James, Esq., Mus. Bac.

Macfarren, Sir George Alexander, Mus. Doc., Cantab., Prof. Mus. Cantab.

Principal of the Royal Academy of Music.
Osborne, George Alexander, Esq.

Pole, William, Esq., F.R.S. L. and E., Mus. Doc., Oxon.

Salaman, Charles Kensington, Esq., Hon. Mem. Acad. St. Cecilia, Rome.

Stainer, John, Esq., M.A., Mus. Doc., Oxon., Hon. R.A.M.

Stone, William Henry, Esq., M.A., F.R.C.P.

Tyndall, John, Esq., F.R.S., LL.D., &c, &c.

ORDINARY MEMBERS OF COUNCIL.
Barry, C. A., Esq., M.A.

Bosanquet, R. H. M., Esq., M.A., F.R.A.S., F.C.S.

Crawford, Major G. A., M.A.

Cummings, W. H., Esq.

Davenport, F. W., Esq. (Hon. Sec.)

Gladstone, F. E., Esq., Mus. Doc, Hon. R.A.M.

Monk, W. H., Esq., Mus. Doc. Dunelra, Prof. King's Coll.

Prendergast, A. H. D., Esq., M.A.

Prout, E., Esq., B.A.

Southgate, Thomas Lea, Esq.

Stephens, Charles Edward, Esq., Hon. R.A.M.

TREASURER.

Stanley Lucas, Esq., 84, New Bond Street, W.

AUDITORS.

William S. Collard, Esq.
Charles Mackeson, Esq., F.S.S.

HONORARY SECRETARY.

F. W. Davenport, Esq., Ridge House, Barnet, N.

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MEMBERS.

Adams, F. Norman, Esq.

Adams, William Grylls, Esq., M.A.,

F.R.S., Professor King's College.

(Vice-President.)
Alexander, Lesley, Esq. (Life Member.)
Atkinson, Mrs. S. Phillis.

Banister, Henry Charles, Esq., Prof.

R.A.M.
Barnett, John Francis, Esq.
Barry, C. A., Esq.
Bassett, H., Esq., F.C.S.
Beaumont, Captain Alex. Spink.

(Life Member.)
Behnke, Emil, Esq.
Berger, Francesco, Esq.
Bird, H. R., Esq.

Blaikley, David James, Esq. (Life

Member.)
Blunden, G. E., Esq.
Bosanquet, R. H. M., Esq., M.A.,

F.R.A.S., F.C.S., Fellow of St.

John's Coll., Oxon. (Life Member.)
Boulton, H. M., Esq.
Breakspeare, E. J., Esq.
Bridge, J. Fredk., Esq., Mus. Doc,

Oxon., Organist Westminster

Abbey. ( Vice-President. )
Browne, Rev. M. E.
Brownlow, Mrs. E. F.
Buchanan, Miss Mary.
Buttery, Horace, Esq.

Caldicott, A. T., Esq., Mus. Bac,

Cantab.
Callcott, R. S., Esq.
Campbell, F. J., Esq.
Carozzi, G. N., Esq.
Carpenter, Major Wallace.
Chappell, William, Esq., F.S.A. (Vice-
^ President.)

Clarke, Somers, Esq., Jun.

Cobb, Gerard F., Esq., M.A., Trin.

Coll., Camb.
Cockle, G., Esq.

Coleridge, Arthur Duke, Esq., M.A.

Collard, John C, Esq.

Collard, W. S., Esq.

Crament, J. M., Esq., Mus. Bac, Oxon.

Crawford, Major George A., M.A.

Cummings, W. H., Esq.

Curwen, J. S., Esq.

Davenport, F. W., Esq. (Hon. Sec.)
Davison, F., Esq.

Deacon, H. C, Esq.

Deane, The Rev. H., B.D., St. John's

Coll., Oxon.
Douglas, Colonel.
Drew, Miss Catherine.
Dunn, Mrs., of Inglewood.

Elvey, Sir George, Knt., Mus. Doc,
Oxon.

Francis, F. J., Esq.

Freake, Lady.

Freer, Miss A. Goodrich.

Frost, H. F., Esq., Organist Savoy

Chapel Royal.
Foster, Myles Birket, Esq.

f

Garcia, Manuel, Esq.

Gladstone, W. H., Esq., M.P.

Gladstone, F. E., Esq., Mus. Doc,
Hon. R.A.M.

Gray, Allan, LL.M., Trin. Coll.,
Camb.

Green, Herbert, Esq.

Goldschmidt, Otto, Esq. (Vice-
President.)

Grove, Sir George, D.C.L. (Vice-
President.)

Hall, C. J., Esq.
Baillie- Hamilton, J , Esq.
Harding, H. A., Esq., Mus. Doc,
Oxon.

Harrison & Harrison, Messrs.
Hecht, E., Esq.
Helmore, The Rev. T., M.A.
Hichens, The Rev. J. H.
Hight, J., Esq.

Hi gg s » James, Esq., Mus. Bac, Oxon.

( Vice-President.)
Hiles, Henry, Esq., Mus. Doc, Oxon.

(Manchester.)
Hill, Arthur, Esq., B.E. (Cork.)
Holmes, Henry, Esq.
Hopper, Richard, Esq.
Hullah, John, Esq., LL.D., Hon.

Mem. Acad. St. Cecilia, Rome.

(Vice-President.)
Hullett, Capt. C. H., Organist of St.

Peter's, Vere Street.

Knott, Oswald, Esq.
Knox, Brownlow D. f Esq.

Leighton, Miss Margaret.
Littleton, Alfred J., Esq.

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VI MEMBERS — continued.

Lloyd, Charles H., Esq., M.A., Mus.

Bac, Oxon., Christchurch, Oxford.
Loaring, J., Esq.
Loxley, Rev. A. S., M.A.
Lucas, Stanley, Esq. {Treasurer.)

Macfarren, Sir George Alexander,
Mus. Doc, Cantab., Prof. Univ.
Camb., Principal of the Royal
Academy of Music. ( Vice-President.)

Mackeson, Charles, Esq., F.S.S.

McCreagh, Major.

Maitland, A. J. Fuller, Esq.

McNaught, W. G., Esq.

Mar, Earl of, M.A.

Martin, G. C, Esq., Mus. Doc.,

Cantuar.
Messent, John, Esq.
Mocatta, Percy G., Esq.
Monk, W. H., Esq., Mus. Doc.,

Dunelm, Prof. King's Coll.
Monk, J., Esq.
Mountain, Thomas, Esq.

Newall, F. S., Esq.

Osborne, George Alexander, Esq.

[Vice-President.)
Ouseley, The Rev. Sir Fredk. A. Gore,

Bart., M.A., Mus. Doc, Oxon., Prof.

Univ. Oxon. (President.)

Parratt, Walter, Esq., Mus. Bac.Oxon.

Pearson, J. W., Esq.

Pole, Wm, Esq., F.R.S., Mus. Doc,

Oxon. ( Vice-President.)
Pontigny, Victor de, Esq.
Pope, Dr. Campbell, M.D.
Praeger, Ferdinand, Esq.
Prendergast, A. H. D., Esq., M.A.
Prescott, Miss Oliveria.
Prout, E., Esq., B.A.
Puckle, Maurice, Esq.

Ramsbotham, Dr. S. H.
Randegger, Alberto, Esq.
Rayleigh, Lord, M.A:, F.R.S.
Rhodes, Alfred, Esq., Organist of

Brixton Independent Church.
Rosa, Carl, Esq.
Rose, George T., Esq.
Rowe, R. C, M.A., Trin. Coll. Camb.

Salaman, Charles K.. Esq., Hon.
Mem. Acad. St. Cecilia, Rome.
{Vice-President.)

Saunders, J. Gordon, Esq., Mus. Doc
Shedlock, J. S., Esq., B.A.
Smith, Hermann, Esq.
Solla, Isidore de, Esq.
Southgate, Thomas Lea, Esq.
Stainer, John, Esq., M.A., Mus. Doc,

Oxon., Org. St. Paul's Cathedral,

Hon. R.A.M. (Vice-President.)
Stanford, C. Villiers, Esq., M.A.,

Organist Trinity Coll., Camb.
Stark, Humphrey J., Esq., Mus. Bac,

Oxon.

Stephens, Chas. Edward, Esq., Hon.
R.A.M.

Stone, Dr. W. H., M.A., F.R.C.P.

( Vice-President. )
Stratton, Stephen S., Esq.
Sullivan, Sir Arthur S., Mus. Doc,

Oxon.
Swinburn, Mrs. C. A.

Taylor, Sedley, Esq., M.A., Trin. Coll.,
Camb.

Taylor, James, Esq., Mus. Bac, Oxon.,

Organist New College, Oxon.
Taylor, Franklin, Esq.
Thomas, J., Esq.

Trotter, The Rev. C, M.A., Trin.

Coll., Camb. (Life Member.)
Tucker, Mrs. Marwood.
Tunstall, John, Esq.
Turpin, James, Esq., Mus. Bac,

Cantab.

Tyndall, Professor John, F.R.S.,
LL.D. (Vice-President.)

Vance, Miss.

Vincent, Charles, Mus. Bac.

Walker, The Rev. H. Aston, M.A.,

Oriel Coll., Oxon.
Ward, Miss.
Ward, H., Esq.
Webster, W., Esq.

Weekes, Samuel, Esq., Mus. Bac,

Cantab.
Welch, W., Esq., M.A.
White, Mrs. F. Meadows.
Wilkinson, Richard, Esq., M.D.
Williams, Miss A. M.
Wingham, T., Esq.

Yeatman, Harry O., Esq.

Zimmermann, Miss Agnes.

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MUSICAL ASSOCIATION.

NINTH SESSION, 1882-83.

REPORT.

The Annual General Meeting of the Musical Association was held at
No. 27, Harley Street, Cavendish Square, on Monday, October 29, 1883:

Rev. T. Helmore, M.A., in the Chair.

The following Report of the Council was read by the Hon. Secretary : —

The Council of the Musical Association, in presenting the Ninth Annual
Report to the Members, are glad to record the continued usefulness and
prosperity of the Association.

During the past Session the following papers have been read : —

November 6, 1882. — 44 On the Fallacy of the Repetition of Parts in the
Classical Form," by Ferdinand Praeger, Esq. December 4.—" Practical
Suggestions on Vocal Culture," by G. W. Carozzi, Esq. January 1, 1883.
— 44 Musical ^Esthetics," by Eustace J. Breakspearb, Esq. March 5. —
44 Some Practical Bearings of the Study of Acoustics upon Music as an Art,"
by James Turpin, Esq., Mus. Bac. April 2. — 44 Musical Coincidences and
Reminiscences," by G. A. Osborne, Esq. May 7. — 44 Woman in Relation
to Musical Art," by Stephen S. Stratton, Esq. June 4. — 44 On the
Velocity of Sound in Air," by D. J. Blaikley, Esq.

For the February Meeting your Council had received the promise of a
Paper on the Vocalion from James Baillie-Hamilton, Esq. Unfortunately,
when the appointed time came Mr. Baillie-Hamilton was so seriously ill
that it was impossible for him to fulfil his engagement. He, however, sent
an instrument and some parts illustrative of its structure, and Professor
Grylls Adams most kindly inaugurated a very interesting discussion on
certain modifications of the free reed.

The volume of Proceedings has been printed and a copy sent to every
Member. The Council have arranged that Members of the Association
shall in future be entitled to purchase from the Hon Sec. extra copies of
the several volumes of the Proceedings still in print at 2s. each.

The Council cannot submit this Report without alluding to the great loss
which the Musical Association, in common with the other learned and
scientific societies of England, has sustained through the lamented death of
the late William Spottiswoode, Esq. The Council desire to record their
sense of the indebtedness of the Musical Association to the late President of
the Royal Society. The preliminary meeting at which the Association was
formed was held at the house of Mr. Spottiswoode, in response to a
circular invitation from him, on the 8th of April, 1874. From the first he
filled the office of Vice-President, and a Paper which he contributed on the
5th of May, 1879, was alike distinguished for its masterly treatment of a
difficult subject and for the gseat wealth of apparatus and experiment with
which he illustrated it.

Your Council much regret to announce the resignation by Mr. Higgs of
the office of Honorary Secretary, which he has held, so greatly to the
advantage of the Institution and with such undeviating courtesy to its
Members, for six years. It would appear that the duties of the Secretary-
ship have for some time been performed by him at much inconvenience, and
that this has now so increased that he is unable to longer render that
valuable assistance which has been so much appreciated Your Council
feel sure that all will unite in their regret, and also in offering Mr. Higgs
the assurance of the highest personal esteem and the most sincere and

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• • •

Vlll

REPORT — continued.

grateful thanks for his indefatigable and most successful services for so
long a period.

Your Council have made diligent efforts to be prepared to offer some
suggestion respecting a successor to Mr. Higos, and they have now much
pleasure in submitting the name of Mr. F. W. Davenport, a gentleman
well known and esteemed in the musical profession, who has intimated his
willingness to accept the office. The Council consider it unnecessary to
dwell on Mr. Davenport's eligibility or on the good fortune which enables
them to recommend him for election.

In accordance with rule, five ordinary Members of Council retire ; and
while recommending those gentlemen for re-election, the Council desire to
remind Members of their right to nominate other gentlemen to serve on the
Council.

Progress has already been made in arrangements for several of the Papers
for next Session : —

1883.— November 5, Paper by Dr. C. J. Frost, on "Theoretical Study as
an Assistance to Execution." December 3, Paper by Emil Behnke, Esq.,
on " Photographs of the Throat in Singing: how they were taken and what
they teach." January 7, 1884, Paper by Professor Sir G. A. Macparren,
on " Cipriani Potter : his life and work." February 4, Paper by Ferdinand
Praeger, Esq,, on " Form." March 3, Paper by Rev. M. E. Browne, on
" Words for Music." April 7, Paper by J. S. Shedlock, Esq., B.A., on
"The Maltreatment of Music." May 5, Paper by Gerard F. Cobb, Esq.,
M.A., Fell. Trin. Coll., Cam., "On Certain Principles of Musical
Exposition considered educationally, and illustrated in their application
to current system of Chord Classification and Musical Notation." June 2,
Second paper by Gerard F. Cobb, Esq., in continuation of the same
subject.

The Treasurer's Balance-sheet for the past year will show that the
Association is in a satisfactory financial position.

From the LAWS AND REGULATIONS.

Subscription.

The Annual Subscription to the Association is one guinea, which
shall become due on the 1st of November in each year.

Any Member may, upon or at any time after election, become a Life
Member of the Association, by payment of a composition of £10 105. in
lieu of future Annual Subscriptions.

Should Members desire to withdraw from the Association, they should
give notice to the Hon. Sec. on or before the 31st of October.

No newlv elected Member shall be entitled to attend the Meetings until
the Annual Subscription be paid.

Members are privileged to introduce one visitor at each meeting; they
will write their names in the members' and visitors' book on entering. No
admission tickets are necessary.

Membership.

The Association shall consist of practical and theoretical musicians, as
well as those whose researches have been directed to the science of acoustics,
the history of the art, or other kindred subjects.

Any person desirous of being admitted into the Association must be
proposed by two Members.

Elections will take place by ballot of the Members present at any of the
ordinary meetings, and one adverse vote in four shall exclude.

Members in the country or in town may forward to the Hon. Sec,
Treasurer, or any Member of Council, the names of candidates for
election. When duly nominated and seconded, they will be balloted for at
the ensuing monthly meeting, before the reading of the Paper for the day.

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November 5, 1883.

CHARLES E. STEPHENS, Esq.,
In the Chair.

THEORETICAL STUDY AS AN ASSISTANCE TO

EXECUTION.

By Dr. C. J. Frost.

Topics of musical interest have been so much discussed
before you that it seems to me almost an impossibility to
introduce one to your notice, the ground of which has not
been already in some measure trodden.

I feel that it is somewhat presumptuous on my part to
address such an august assembly of experienced musicians
on any subject, and my apology for appearing before you
must be that, though I may have nothing particularly new
to impart, I may possibly draw attention to certain points
which may originate discussion, from which I, in addition to
others, may learn something to our advantage.

The thought has often occurred to me when I have been
a witness of young people's performances upon the piano,
I wonder how much they understand about the music they
are playing ; and I have doubted whether their facility of
execution on the keyboard has not been acquired mainly by
the aid of mechanical practice alone, the brain being allowed
to remain dormant instead of being pressed into service as
an active assistant.

On asking a few questions to satisfy my curiosity on this
point, I have found in the majority of cases that my sus-
picions were only too well founded, as they are generally
perfectly unconscious as to what are the elements of a
common chord, or even to analyse or explain the con-
struction of a scale, though scale-playing was part of their
daily routine, and they had them all at their fingers' ends.
Still, I found also, that after giving them a little explanation
on these matters, they not merely appeared most grateful, but
could see at once, and were not slow in acknowledging, the
assistance that this would be to their future playing.

Such instances led me to meditate a little on this matter,
and to resolve that the subject upon which I would speak to
you to-day should be, " Theoretical study as an assistance

B

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2 Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution.

to execution," for I fancy that it has not yet received that
attention which its importance merits, or that if it has
received that consideration from thoughtful musicians indi-
vidually, it has not yet had that deliberation in council
which the question seems to demand.

To my mind the subject seems to be of sufficient con-
sequence to make it of vital interest to all of Tubal Cain's
descendants, even though we have to prepare our thoughts
somewhat for a modification of Scripture to admit such a
modern instrument as the pianoforte amongst the names of
those, the "handlers" of which he is said to be "father" of.

At this place I should like to say that the remarks which
I am prompted to make are offered with some diffidence,
more as thoughts which have suggested themselves to me on
the subject than as theories which I am prepared to hold
against any argument.

Pianists, in their earnestness not to lose time over the
practical part of their own study, are, as a rule, not pre-
possessed with a desire to make themselves acquainted with
an outline of the principles of the theory of harmony.

This may not be altogether their fault, for the teacher of
the piano or other keyboard instrument is naturally most
anxious to push his pupil on (as speedily as is consistent
with good progress) with the practical part of the study.

While we can only commend him for this very laudable
earnestness of purpose (for piano playing is an art needing
great dexterity, and requiring much mechanical practice to
produce anything approaching a satisfactory result), still,
in my opinion, it may be very much assisted by a little
theoretical instruction, and it is a question we may well
consider whether some definite portion of the time allowed
for teaching a pupil might not very advantageously, and in
the end, perhaps, much more profitably to the student, be
devoted to such explanations of its general principles as
would assist him in his comprehension of the music which it
is his business to learn to interpret.

I fear it would be impossible to suggest anything like a
definite line as to how far it would be expedient or consistent
for the teacher to proceed in this direction, and it would be
for his discretion to suggest the limits of the time which
might be judiciously spent in this way. He would have to
bear in mind that he is really engaged to teach the piano,
not harmony, and that for him to make theoretical study
too great a feature of his lessons would be evidencing a
palpable want of judgment. To further guide him on this
point, the student's aptitude in understanding such theoretical
instruction would of necessity be an important element in the
consideration as to how far he would be justified in enlarging
on the topic.

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Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution

3

With these preliminary remarks understood, I will pro-
ceed at once with the detail of my paper, and say that
the first essential point that I should think it would be
desirable clearly to explain to the pupil is, " the nature and
construction of the scales."

I hope I do elementary teachers of the piano no injustice
(and if I do they have my sincerest apology), but I certainly
fear that a large percentage of those who teach the scales in
the first case do so without explaining that the keyboard of
our modern pianoforte contains twelve notes to the octave —
viz., seven white keys, and five black ones.

By playing an ascending major scale deliberately, the
natural impression produced on an ordinary listener who has
not yet devoted any consideration to the subject is that it is
a gradual and equal ascent of one degree at a time. This,
too, is somewhat misleadingly confirmed by our ordinary
musical notation, which does not exhibit the unequal steps
in a scale, as it places them all at apparently similar distances
apart.

The pupil can scarcely credit when first his attention is
drawn to it that these degrees are not all of equal extent,
and it takes some little time for him to appreciate the fact
that some of these degrees are twice the extent of others.
If no explanation is ever given on this point though, I fear he
is liable to go on indefinitely with an utterly fallacious idea
as the foundation work of all his music. But with a little
perseverance I think he can soon be brought to understand
this, and so he learns that the interval between any two
white keys close together upon the piano is not the same, as
it depends upon whether there is, or is not, a black key
between them. Also, that upon equally tempered keyboards
of the present day the interval between any note and its
nearest right or left hand neighbour, be it white or black, or
in any part of the keyboard is the same, and that the name
of this interval is a semitone.

After having this explanation clearly set before him, and
being shown also that two of these intervals make a whole
tone, he can be then shown that the major scale consists
exclusively of these two intervals, and that out of the seven
intervals constituted within the limits of an octave, five of
them are tones, the remaining two being of necessity semi-
tones, and as the less in number is more easily to be
remembered than the greater, your student gets to look at a
major scale as a succession of tones, but with a semitone
only existing between the 3rd and 4th, and the 7th and 8th
degrees. An appeal to the student's aural sense might now
be made advantageously to make these differences between
tone and semitone more perceptible to him, and thus
supplement his reasoning powers. To do this it is merely

b 2

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4

Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution.

necessary to play a scale in which this order of the position
of the tones and semitones is not observed, say upon the white
keys only, beginning at either E or B instead of the proper
C. The student will be a dull one, indeed, who cannot
perceive the unsatisfactory effect to modern ears attuned to
our present major scale of the altered position of the tones
and semitones.

When again the master, in further elucidation, shows that
by the admission of the necessary sharps to bring a correct
order for the major scale beginning at the same E or B, the
student's mind must be fully enlightened on this point.
With explanations such as these, I think a pupil may be
soon brought to comprehend the construction of a major
scale.

With regard to the minor scale, it must be acknowledged
that the learner's aptitude is much more taxed to understand
it than in the case of the major, and this is mainly attribut-
able to a difference of position for the semitones in ascending
to that in descending.

Perhaps the most general way of teaching the minor scale
to piano students is that wherein the second semitone lies
between the 7th and 8th degrees in ascending, but is
changed to the 6th and 5th in descending. This method in
my experience is the more difficult one for the pupil to
conquer on account of these differences, and the consequent
necessity of their indication by two accidentals, which again
have to be contradicted by two more. To my mind a pupil
would much more readily understand the other version which
has its semitones between the 2nd and 3rd, the 5th and 6th,
and the 7th and 8th degrees, because like the major the
ascending and descending scales are both alike, and because
there is only one accidental which does not require contra-
diction in descending. I should be departing somewhat
from the purport of my subject were I to enter upon the
question of the signature of a minor key as it is our present
custom to write it.

I might say, though, that I think the major 7th of the tonic
being the real leading note of the key, it would be infinitely
more satisfactory to incorporate such an essential element of
the key in the signature, rather than write it on every
recurrence as an accidental. By its indication in this way it
looks like a foreigner to the key, which is either going to
announce a modulation or a chromatic progression. Of
course it does no such thing, as its whole duty is to indicate
one of the diatonic notes of the scale, even though its position
as such must be bewildering to the student through the
inconsistency of its being written as a so-called accidental.
Perhaps we may yet see this most important element of the
minor scale included in the signature, and, if so, one of the

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Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution, 5

pupil's great troubles will be removed, as there will be then
not the slightest confusion as to whether a key is major or
minor, as the signature itself will supply the information
without referring to the body of the piece.

Before I deviated from my path to say this I was speaking
of the harmonic minor scale, and the reasons why it seems to
me the more easily to be acquired by piano students. The
objection to it because it contains an augmented second, and
so is somewhat difficult of vocalisation, can be no drawback
to instrumental music, so if we consider this and the fact of
its being the true harmonic minor scale, in addition to the
increased facility that it affords over the other method, I
think that it appears preferable as the vehicle by which the
student is to make his acquaintance with the minor mode.
The pupil should here have his attention drawn to this break
in the minor scale as forming the one exception to the
general definition of a diatonic scale, that it is an alpha-
betical succession of tones and semitones.

The nature of the scales having received some such
explanation as this, the student would now be prepared to
construct either a major or minor scale upon any given note,
be the key ever so extreme, and I am fully prepared to say
that his trouble in learning to play them is reduced con-
siderably by his knowledge of their nature and construction.

Supplementary to all this, it should be shown to the
student that a chromatic scale being a succession of semi-
tones only, it is quite unnecessary that it should be studied
in connection with all the keys, as it is practically the same
in any key, though, of course, starting on different notes, and
requiring different notation according to the key.

The second point to which I would now draw your atten-
tion is, the necessity to a student of a clear comprehension
of the order of succession and relationship to each other of
the keys. Here I think it is incumbent upon the teacher
to explain that though the flat scales are very often learnt
by commencing at F major and D minor because the}'
contain only one flat in the signature, this is not the order
by which the sharp scales followed each other, but a
succession exactly the reverse, and that if they are learnt in
this order it is merely for convenience and facility.

If once learnt in this way, in my opinion it would be
best that the student's order of practising these flat scales
should be reversed so as to make them follow the sharp
scales in continuation ; that is, in the exact order of succes-
sion that the sharp keys themselves were taken. By this
method of procedure the learner becomes habituated to one
order for the whole series, and sees that they thus form a
complete circle of keys and lead round to the original starting

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6 Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution,

This is really an important principle that the mind of the
pupil should be assisted thoroughly to comprehend, and
which becomes almost second nature when thus introduced
and allowed to form part of the daily routine. By this
method, too, the student is much assisted towards a
recollection of the relationship of the keys, as he has only
one order of succession to remember, instead of two which
the other way would induce.

At this point the student might be shown that a backward
process is induced by beginning the order of the flat scales at
the small end, and that if this is continued it passes through
the sharp scales in reverse order, so as to bring those with
the smallest number of sharps last. The circle of keys is
thus again completed, but by an exactly reverse method.

It may now,- I think, be shown without any danger of
perplexing the mind which is in course of training that there
are a few of the more extraneous keys which are common to
both the sharp and the flat series, and are thus available in
either set of keys.

Beginning, for instance, with B major and G sharp minor,
containing 5 sharps in their signature, and their counterparts
in the flat scales, C flat major and A flat minor with their

7 flat signature ; the two numbers 5 and 7 making 12. Next
comes F sharp major and D sharp minor with 6 sharps, and
their counterparts, G flat major and E flat minor with 6 flats,
in this case 6 and 6 going to make up the number 12. Then
lastly comes C sharp major and A sharp minor with 7 sharp
signature, and their corresponding scales of the flat series,
D flat major and B flat minor with 5 flats, the numbers 7 and
5 making up the necessary 12. This list of six scales available
either in sharp or flat keys might be extended to all the
other keys, but with no practical result. Still, for a thorough
understanding of the whole subject of keys, all this should
be clearly comprehended.

It might, however, be still further explained that it is only
with the near equality of the two numbers that go to make
the twelve that anything like practicability remains.

To make this point intelligible, the student should again
be referred to the six scales of which I have been speaking,
and in the first instance of which 5 sharps and 7 flats went
together to make the 12. Next 6 sharps and 6 flats, and
lastly 7 sharps and 5 flats.

As there are only seven distinct notes in a diatonic scale,
major or minor, each of these notes becomes affected when
there are as many as seven elements in the signature.

By the introduction then of an eighth member to the
signature, as there are no more notes natural, one of these
seven notes of the scale must of necessity be doubly
affected.

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7

The keys in which this would take place are G sharp
major and E sharp minor with 8 sharps. F being the note
requiring a double sharp ; and the keys of F flat major and
D flat minor with 8 flats, the B in these scales being the note
which would have to be doubly flattened.

The student on understanding this would soon perceive
that no one would dream of utilizing these keys when they
would be much more simply expressed by their counterparts
— A flat major and F minor with 4 flats, and E major and
C sharp minor with 4 sharps. But this method of explaining
the order of the scales or keys, and their representatives in
the corresponding series, enlightens the student's mind as to
the complete theory or principle upon which scales may be
said to succeed each other in rotative order.

It might now be exemplified that the order of succession
of keys is regular, in that each scale in advance through the
circle of keys has its keynote just a perfect fifth above the
last, whereas the opposite result is produced by the backward
order through the circle, each keynote following at the
distance of a fifth below instead of above, thus producing an
exact reflex of order and method.

The third point to which a pupil's attention might be
directed is that of the key signatures themselves, which
are also subservient to an order of succession and that by the
same rule.

It should be clearly shown that each succeeding key adds
one sharp to the already existing signature ; that the newest
sharp added by the latest key always appears last ; and that
these, like the keynotes themselves, follow each other at the
interval of the fifth above, the last one in each case being
the leading note of the major key. To finish this question
of the order of the elements of the different signatures, it is
only necessary that the pupil be shown that the flat keys
induce an exact reversion of this order, for that, beginning
with B, the first flat requisitioned, they follow each other at
the interval of a fifth below instead, the last flat in each
signature being the subdominant of the major key. I would
suggest at this point, as having connection with this question,
the advisability of making clear the importance of avoiding
confusion of the order of flats or sharps in a signature, with
the order in which the same inflected notes succeed each
•other in the ordinary course of a scale, as the two orders are
quite distinct.

I might now hint at the fourth point which occurs to me,
and that is the utility of showing a pupil how to unmistakably
recognise between major and minor keys that bear the same
signature. I do not know a subject upon which so much
ignorance exists, as it is unquestionably a point upon which
many pianists are far from fully conversant, but towards a

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8 Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution.

clear understanding of which a little theoretical knowledge
would be a most useful auxiliary. I fear that the masters
are most to blame for this lack of knowledge on the part of
their pupils, for if they could only give sufficient explanations
of the signs to be observed in the recognition of a key, I am
sure that a reasonable amount of attention given by a
student would clear up all doubt with regard to it. .

I have already been very near to this question in my brief
allusion to the desirability of incorporating the leading note
of a minor key in the signature ; but as our notation at
present exists, the chief thing to be shown in elucidating
this point to a pupil is that the leading note is not a part of
the signature, but is expressed (though a diatonic note) by
what must be called by courtesy an accidental, that is, a
sign for the alteration of pitch which is introduced in the
course of the piece instead of in the signature. Also, that
further evidence of the key may be obtained, as a rule, by
an examination of the first and last harmonies, the last more
particularly if the movement is conclusive and does not lead
into something else. And that, if these two harmonies are
found to contain the elements of the common chord of the
keynote in question, the pupil might be led to accept it as
fully confirming what his previous consideration of the
leading note showed.

Theoretical knowledge would again reveal to students the
solution of a problem which must often arise in the minds of
the uninitiated — viz., that of the reasons why a certain note
should be called by a certain name when it would be much
more clear to their minds in a more simple form. A teacher
is frequently asked, "Why should not this note be called
F natural instead of E sharp ? " The pupil continues, " I
should recognise it at once under that name, whereas the
other costs me a thought, and so is a hindrance to my
reading and ready playing." If he had been made aware
that the note in question stood as the leading note of the key
of F sharp major or minor, or had some other definite
relation to the tonic of the prevailing key, and as such could
not be named otherwise, or there would be two Fs in the
scale, it would then be apparent to him that there is a good
reason against such an alteration as he would like, as the
note would not be the proper interval with other notes of the
key. The inconsistency of using a more simple notation for
a note under such circumstances might be more forcibly
impressed on a student's mind by showing him, say, the
F sharp minor scale written out with F natural in place of
the E sharp. He would not be slow to perceive that, under
these conditions, it would be no diatonic scale at all, because
of the leap between the letter names of two of the notes, and
because of there being two notes of the same alphabetical

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9

name, and he would also understand that a similar reason
might be adduced in explanation of all such cases.

The sixth point to which I would now draw your attention,
as of some considerable consequence, is that of the modula-
tions which a composer chooses to make in the course of a
piece from the original key. I can confidently affirm that,
to a pianist who has not a sufficient acquaintance with
harmony to unhesitatingly see at once what key he has
modulated into, the difficulties of reading a passage in any
key otherwise than that of the tonic of the piece itself must
be very much more than it would be to another who clearly
sees the modulation, and who is also thoroughly conversant
with the scale of the new key. Here, then, is a subject upon
which a master might fairly enlarge by explaining what a
modulation is, and what its purpose ; how to recognise it by
the advent of new accidentals, which are of continual
recurrence while the new key lasts, and fulfil the purpose of
denoting a modulation without changing the signature
temporarily. Modulations will distress a student very much,
more especially those to remote keys, unless the mind fully
grasps the fact of its being a complete change of key, and
can tell for certain what key, the difficulties would then be
not merely considerably lessened, but a somewhat difficult
modulation to a foreign key then becomes quite clear and
intelligible in the light of its new key. This new key being
an indisputable circumstance in the student's mind, he is
enabled to laugh at the bewildering array of accidentals
necessary to contradict the old and establish the new key ;
pictures to himself a completely new signature, and reads the
passage in question mentally without a single accidental.
What an assistance does a knowledge of harmony here
become to the executant, to whose enlightened understanding
it becomes the medium for turning apparent night and dark-
ness into broad daylight, and great difficulty of reading a
passage bristling with accidentals into the most simple. The
study of harmony would alone repay a pianist for this single
facility, for with what ease would he then be enabled to
comprehend a passage which without it would be almost
inexplicable. To give force to my remarks on this question
it is only necessary for me to direct your attention to an
episode in C major in the Rondo of Beethoven's Pathetique
Sonata, which, being in the key of C minor, of necessity each
one of the three flats in the signature, B, E, and A, has to be
contradicted on every repetition. This makes it that over
one-third of the notes are marked with accidentals. Or
again, to refer to another of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas — viz.,.
that in G, Opus 31, No. 1, known generally as No. 16, which,
having its second subject in the key of the sub-mediant,
brings quite as many alterations, almost all of which are

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attributable to the new key. There is a still more forcible
illustration which perhaps I may mention before leaving this
portion of my subject, and that is the setting of the second
subject in the first movement of the Waldstein Sonata, which
is introduced in the key of the mediant (E major), the initial
key being C. The alterations to the notes which this causes
makes it that four-sevenths of the notes must of necessity be
marked by accidentals. The result of this is that in seven
bars containing seventeen chords there are no fewer than
fifty-seven accidentals. By the mental process of supplying
a new signature for the passage, fifty-three out of the fifty-
seven accidentals would be taken as understood, and so done
away with, the pianist's task of reading the actual notes
being proportionately facilitated by the process. What a
wide field of imagination this affords as to the advantages
accruing to that executant who has made himself sufficiently
conversant with the study of harmony to decide all such
modulations readily, and so to play with a full appreciation
of the new key. These illustrations prompt me to remark
that the reading and playing of music might be greatly
facilitated by a more frequent change of signature ; but as
this would be generally inconsistent with the unity of the
piece, composers naturally prefer that almost all alterations
of key from the original should only be indicated by alteration
of the notes actually affected. This adds weight to my
reasoning on the utility of theoretical knowledge as an
assistance to execution, for composers thus tax the sight and
reading facility of a pianist more than the mind, which, I
think I must have conclusively proved to you, might be
brought to bear upon the point with incalculable advantage.

The next topic in connection with our subject is that of
the arpeggio, which forms so important a factor in modern
piano music. Arpeggio being the sounding consecutively of
the different elements which constitute a harmony, a clear
knowledge of what harmony an arpeggio is spread upon
is very essential to a ready touch. Lacking this knowledge,
a pianist has no alternative but to read every note one after
the other, and loses a great deal in the way of facility of
reading or execution in consequence. On the other hand, to
one who understands the harmony upon which an arpeggio
is built, it is a simple matter to observe the order in which
the first few notes follow each other ; and a glance after
that suffices to show him that the entire passage is built upon
the three or four elementary notes of the harmony, and that
he has therefore only to keep the harmony in mind, and is
thus saved the many taxations to his brain that a con-
sideration of each separate note would entail. Sometimes
the clear comprehension of a somewhat troublesome passage
is very much assisted by a little careful examination, when

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Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution. n

it will possibly be seen that the progression is really built on
very simple lines, and that the harmony upon which it is
laid is a little less clear to be understood through the intro-
duction of some note which is not essential to the actual
elements of the harmony, but is supplementally introduced
by way of ornamentation. Such notes may be passing notes
at a semitone below the harmony note, or one above it, or
various devices that a composer's ingenuity may suggest.
I think I may safely presume that Beethoven's Piano Sonata,
Opus 22, in B flat, is tolerably familiar to you all, and that if
so you will be able to follow me when I say that a case of
this kind occurs in the third bar of the opening subject,
where the arpeggio of B flat is taken by the right hand in
alternation with the semitone and the next harmony note
below. Then again at the close of that first subject, where
the left hand leads off the beginning of the causeway with
the same arpeggio and in a similar manner.

If a student can be prevailed upon to regard such a pro-
gression in this light, his mind grasps at once the elements
of its construction. Four bars later than the second of the
two passages to which I have just referred occurs another,
which a knowledge of the harmony upon which it is con-
structed would make quite clear to the pianist, but which
without it would be much more difficult to comprehend.
As you will doubtless well remember the passage in question,
which is still in the causeway, and on a pedal note C, I
would briefly say that I think a master should prevail upon
a pupil to look at the first bar of this passage as being built
on the chord of C, the seventh being added at the half-bar ;
and the second bar as being on the chord of F major,
changing to minor at the half- bar. Being thus conscious of
the harmonies which are intended, the student is enabled to
see the meaning of the sentence instantaneously, and so is
saved more mental effort than that of reading the passing
notes on those harmonies, and which occur in the upper
part. Sixteen notes would thus only require consideration
instead of seventy-two.

Next to this subject of arpeggios and the harmonies upon
which they are constructed, I may consistently allude to the
absolute necessity of some theoretical knowledge for a proper
use of the pedal in piano playing. It is to the want of this
that we must attribute that abuse of an otherwise useful
assistant which is so much to be deplored in many players.
Of course, I allude to the right — viz., that generally known
as the loud pedal ; and chiefly on that account is erroneously
believed by too many to be necessary in all forte passages.
Though it would be quite superfluous for me to remark here
that a composer's meaning, in nine cases out of ten, where he
marks it forte or fortissimo would be utterly frustrated by its

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12 Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution.

use ; and for this I need not quote any illustrations, as every
page of classical music affords instances. Still, I think that
a teacher could not exercise too much caution in explaining
to a pupil the reasons why the use of it is good in certain
places and bad elsewhere. This would be that the real use
of the pedal is to sustain certain sounds, which are required
to be continued some little time while the same harmony
remains, but which cannot be held down by the hands as
they are in requisition in another part of the keyboard.

To know when a judicious use of this can be made, the
student must have a sufficiently clear knowledge of harmony
to recognise the different positions of a harmony generated
from one root, for the retention of the pedal a moment
beyond the time necessary completely spoils the effect ; as
the pedal is thus made instrumental in sustaining the wrong
notes in addition to the right. Confusion is the dire result,
and those whose artistic tendencies have been trained to
appreciate the difference between right and wrong have
their delicate perceptibilities offended if not outraged, and
they are reluctantly made to wish that pianos were made
without a pedal, till pianists acquired sufficient insight into
harmony to use it with discretion. Composers most frequently
mark its use, and in that case also mark with a star the
points at which the continued tones are to be discontinued.
In these cases the pianist who carefully observes such
indications cannot go far wrong unless, indeed, the composer
or the printer has made some mistakes. The student's
acquaintance with harmony would here again be serviceable
in making apparent such errors where they do exist. An
executant who merely obeys such directions implicitly,,
without understanding why such instructions are placed
there, becomes a mere automaton. He thus works at a
disadvantage with such as understand why a composer haz
placed such pedal marks there. For he has closely to-
observe every sign, whereas another knows intuitively, from
his acquaintance with the elements of the harmonies, that
the pedal must cease at such a point because the harmony
changes. This affords another illustration of the purport
of my discourse, in that the tax on the student's attention is
considerably lessened, as his understanding again materially
assists his sight. On the other hand, composers occasionally
omit to put any indications of the use of this pedal, even
though its use may be clearly intended. Here then is the
time when a knowledge of harmony is of real service to its
possessor. In these cases it is more frequently some isolated
bass note which is intended to be retained as the bass of
the entire harmony while it remains. Care has then to
be exercised to see that when the harmony changes
the pedal is raised, otherwise the harmony would be

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retained into the next. Unintentional discordance would
thus be produced, and this is rather a different thing
to discord which the composer intends as such. It must
also be remembered that a pedal, when down, sustains
not only the single note or notes which it is desired to
continue, but all other notes which are struck while it
remains down. On this account a nice discrimination is
essential, so as to perceive whether there is anything moving
in the other parts, which, by its continuation through the
medium of the pedal, might not cloud the transparency of
the harmonic structure. If such be the case, the pupil should
be shown that it is better far to sacrifice the continuation of
such a note than to cause the slightest confusion in the
movement of any of the other parts. The student would
thus be brought to lean towards the side of an abstemious,
in preference to a diffuse use of the pedal. Since jotting
down the foregoing, I am pleased to find that so able a pen as
that of the editor of the Musical Standard, Mr. E. H. Turpin,
has been wielded against the abuse of the pedal, though
among his counsels on the subject he does not happen to
mention the necessity to a pianist of a sufficient theoretical
knowledge to recognise the different positions of one harmony,
and with this assistance to be enabled to decide unmistak-
ably where the harmony changes.

The next point upon which I am desirous of bringing the
subject under consideration to bear, is that of a most useful
accomplishment to a pianist, more especially those who are
thrown in the way of accompanying at concerts— viz., that of
"transposition." I fancy it must be a thing beyond dispute
that it is exceedingly convenient for an accompanist to be
able to play the accompaniment of a song in whatever key a
vocalist may require, indeed some vocalists are so exacting
in this matter that it is only expert accompanists who care
to play for them.

A good knowledge of harmony, more particularly great
familiarity with the three harmonies (tonic, dominant, and
sub-dominant) most frequently used in any and every key,
will very much assist to a practical solution of this difficulty,
towards which indeed it is almost indispensable. Without
this knowledge how could it be possible for any one to
picture the progression from harmony to harmony under the
altered circumstances, towards which the actual notes would
alone be of very little assistance ? Every note having to be
read at a different pitch to that it stands upon paper, it is
only in the accompanist's capacity to mentally transpose the
whole thing into another key that he is enabled to treat it
practically in that key upon the keyboard. This then, I
think, is plainly another point towards which theoretical
study is evidently an assistant.

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14 Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution.

Next, I must turn your attention to memory playing, and
the handmaid that the study of harmony can become towards
making it an easier task. The pianist who has this to help
him in this matter naturally associates the chief subject of
the piece to be committed to memory with certain well
defined harmonies of the initial key ; and being aware of the
key to which he is next going for the second subject, the
recollection of the connecting link or bridge is made much
more easy and certain by his knowledge of the harmonies
which will lean satisfactorily towards the dominant of that
key, but as a new key note or tonic. Further, in the
remembrance of the general construction of a movement,
there is still more help available from the same source ; for
each subject in each particular key being quite clear to the
student's mind, the order in which they succeed each other
becomes also quite comprehensible, so is remembered with-
out so much trouble ; then in the recapitulation or reprise of
already announced matter the mind is enabled to understand
the returns and the reasons for them, and in cases like that
of the sonata form, recognises the necessity of the repetition
of a second subject in a key different to that in which it first
appeared, and which must in the last case be that of the
tonic. These points in the construction of a piece become
tolerably clear to a pianist who looks at his work from this
analytical standpoint. That he would be unable to do this
without some knowledge of the theory of harmony must, I
think, be clear to you all.

There is yet another point to which I should like briefly to
refer before I close my subject, as it is one which could not
be carried out with success by a student utterly unacquainted
with the principles of harmony. I grant there are some who
practice it and yet boast of their ignorance on this subject ;
and in their case if anything approaching a degree of success
attend their efforts, though they may not have studied
harmony as a distinct branch of learning, they must have
gained some intuitive knowledge of the subject through their
acquaintance with executive music, or it would be impossible
for them to frame even two or three chords to follow each
other without producing progressions so atrocious that any
one else with a musical sense of right and wrong would find
it decidedly unpleasant to listen to. Of course I am alluding
to extemporary playing, an accomplishment that not one in
a thousand possesses to any considerable extent. When we
think of what Mendelssohn alone could accomplish in this
way, we must all feel that a consummate knowledge of all
harmonic resources was the medium through which he was
enabled to give forth such wonderful manifestations of
improvisation.

Though perhaps it scarcely comes so closely under the

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heading of theoretical study, I think that some slight
knowledge of musical history (certainly as far as piano
composers are concerned) is desirable in a piano student. He
would by this be assisted to understand the ground which
each occupies in the history of piano music, and would thus
be more fully enabled to appreciate the work of each, to
interpret it in a sympathising spirit, and to avoid such
inconsistencies as that of rendering a Chopin Nocturne in the
style of a Beethoven Sonata. Pupils need teaching that they
should appreciate all the great masters, and to do this a
teacher's duty prompts him to point out the different virtues
for which each composer's music is celebrated. Without
this they are liable to take a particular fancy to one com-
poser's writings, and to have no appreciation for any other
until their attention is drawn to the good qualities which
each has, though they are all possibly of a different kind.

In conclusion, I would venture to express an opinion that a
master might devote a certain amount of his allotted time of
instruction to imparting sufficient theoretical information as
would make a pupil understand such foundation work as a
knowledge of diatonic intervals, and the construction of
scales, together with a slight acquaintance of harmony
embracing at least the common chord and its two inversions.
This, I think, is desirable for all who aspire to even a fair
amount of execution upon a keyboard instrument. I would
add, with regard to the harmony, that a knowledge of the
elements of the chords is all that would be needed, and that
to go so far as to enter upon the question of the progression
of parts would be overstepping the mark, and indeed would
be leading the pupil into matter that would not be of the
least assistance to him as an executant. How far a master's
opportunities would permit of imparting as much knowledge
as I have indicated more or less must of necessity vary
according to circumstances. It thus becomes a question
open to the expression of various opinions. Many pianists,
more especially those who intend to take up the work as a
profession, take up harmony as a separate study to the great
advantage of their keyboard execution. My remarks are,
therefore, intended not to bear at all upon their case, but
upon that of the large majority who learn to play the piano
as a mere accomplishment or amusement, but from whose
numerous ranks many might be transferred to the more
select circle of intelligent practical musicians by some
attention to the question I have raised. The musical
perception of the pupil might thus be encouraged to flourish
and be exercised as an aid to the desired end, for without its
cultivation one of the greatest available agencies would
remain unworked. I venture to think it is within the bounds
of possibility for a master to do as much as this without

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1 6 Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution.

neglecting his real duty as a piano teacher, and for a pupil to
be the recipient of such knowledge without bewilderment or
delay to his practice, and if so, I feel sure that the increased
understanding he is thus assisted to bring upon his executive
work will prove an advantage to him in every way. It would
also tend to lessen the large numbers of that noble army of
mechanical players who are nothing better than machines,
and who go through a certain amount of executive work
without in the least understanding what they are playing.
Having now arrived at the end of my list of thoughts bearing
upon the advantages accruing to an executant by some
theoretical knowledge, I feel that doubtless there are some
points which have escaped my attention, but that might
readily occur to a second mind. If such there be, I shall
hope to hear of it when I sit down, for I am far from thinking
that my effort to place before you the advantages which I
think it is open for a pianist to derive has at all exhausted
the subject. If I have now succeeded in giving you anything
like a clear epitome of my views as to the advantages
accruing to a keyboard executant through even only a slight
acquaintance with the principles of harmony, I shall feel (if
you will endorse them) that our time has not been un-
profitably spent together ; and I am sure that a student's
appreciation of a composer's work would be considerably
augmented by some knowledge of the materials that he has
to utilize in the production of a composition, as he would be
conscious of a keener sympathy with him in being able to
follow his meaning, and view his work from a similar stand-
point.

DISCUSSION.
Mr. G. A. Osborne said: — I think we are all of one mind as
regards the necessity of the study of harmony. I do not
think that any person who does not thoroughly understand
it can be looked upon as a musician in the proper acceptation
of the word. There is one suggestion that struck me very
forcibly while Dr. Frost was reading his paper, and that was
the combination of the executant and the theorist. Now, I
have had the privilege of teaching in several countries, and
I am happy to say of having been expensively paid for my
instructions, and I will give you a few anecdotes of what has
occurred to me as a professor. I remember a lady wishing
that her daughter should be thoroughly grounded m harmony,
and asking me if I would instruct her. I said, " Well, I
understand harmony, but there is another thing which is
very different to understanding it, namely, the way to impart
• it. If I have all my time occupied in teaching the pianoforte
so that a pupil may become a brilliant aud effective player, I

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Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution. 17

am doing all that you ask me to do, and that I profess to do,
but why should I take a guinea a lesson as a pianoforte master
when I can get you a person in London, a teacher of harmony,
who teaches nothing but harmony from morning till night,
who will not take from you that sum, and yet at the same
time will teach you harmony in a manner that I could not
do, because I should be merely giving a lesson once in a way."
I then gave her the address of our esteemed new secretary's
father-in-law, then Mr. George Macfarren, and she became
a very great proficient in harmony through the able teaching
of her professor. There are certain little points that
we as instrumental performers and professors can explain.
For instance, I have had to explain to pupils the difference
between the relative minor of the key and that which was
not a relative minor, and I did so very easily in this way :
I said, let us take C major and A minor, these are two
keys, they are husband and wife who have been married,
and they have got no children. Now I will take a husband
and wife, G major and E minor, they have one child, F sharp,
and that is the relative, because that child is related to the
father and mother, and so I went on through the different
keys. These little matters we can touch. I cannot under-
stand why we should have three flats in C minor. I do not
know whether I was right in understanding Dr. Frost who
wished to omit the B flat, because if you want to play it flat
what are you to do ?

Dr. Frost. — You only want that when you have got out
of the key of C minor.

Mr. G. A. Osborne. — That clearly shows why we require
to have a new method. There are many things which we
should like to have, but which we cannot possibly have.
I know there is a great difficulty with regard to the pedal,
for instance. We all know how disagreeable it is to hear
one chord sounding by abuse of the pedal, and to find notes
incorporated into that chord which have nothing whatever
to do with it. As regards pianoforte playing, and par-
ticularly the pianoforte playing of late years where you
require very great dexterity, there is no doubt in the world
you cannot have it without an immense amount of trouble.
If you look at the different passages you all know very well
the difficulties and the time that it takes to be able to
execute them. I once told a pupil, "Now you are going to
play to-morrow evening, will you study that passage with the
left hand, it is only two or three bars, and it will take you,
perhaps, twenty minutes, or even if it is half-an-hour it is
well worth the trouble." He said, " Well, I will think about
it." I went to the party, and here is what I found him doing.
Immediately when he came to this passage he had his
handkerchief by him, and he took it up and blew his nose,

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1 8 Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution.

playing only with one hand. I asked him afterwards why
he did so, and he said : " It produced effect, and I put down
the pedal." I know there are many persons here now who
are perfectly competent to speak on this subject, and I will
not occupy your time further, but will finish by saying, what
every professor ought to say to the parents, " You will aid
me very much if you will get a professor of harmony, so as
to do that part which is quite distinct at least from my
part of teaching, and the pupil would be benefited by it."

Mr. Pearse. — I think the executant might be very much
interested if the harmony professor were to work with the
pianoforte professor in calling the pupil's attention as to how
his theoretical study might be applied to his playing. The
way that harmony is taught nowadays is not quite what is
desired, and I am afraid in many cases it degenerates into a
mere drawing exercise — in getting so many lines and dots in
the right places. If care were taken to let the pupil hear
what he or she had been writing, and have remarks made by
the teachers as to how the principles of harmony might be
applied to practical use at the piano, very much greater
musical results might be attained. Mr. Osborne is quite
right in saying that the time allowed for a pianoforte teacher
is very short indeed, and we can hardly look to him to do all

be done if the harmony professor would work with the piano-
forte professor, and show how he might apply theoretical
knowledge to the practical study.

Mr. H. R. Bird. — As one of the noble or ignoble army of
teachers, I have been very much interested in hearing
Dr. Frost's paper, because I think he has now indicated lines
upon which I have been trying to work for a long time, and,
I believe, with very great measure of success. When a pupil
comes first of all, it is my usual plan to find out whether
there is any musical observation by giving him, say, an
inversion of the dominant harmony, to find out whether
he can resolve it, sometimes even asking what are the
names of certain intervals, and so finding out if there is any
ground on which one can really work. I think that the
indications that Dr. Frost has given are most admirably
suited to what I have found as a matter of practice, the
understanding of certain relationships, and taking care that
little sections in a piece are understood, in what keys they
are, and so interesting the pupil in the work and helping
him or her in the intelligent appreciation of the whole. I
must say that continually, as time has gone on, I have had
most gratifying results from that course, and I am very glad
that Dr. Frost has now endorsed publicly the line on which
I have been humbly working for some time.

Mr. W. H. Cummings.— It seems to me that one outcome

that is required in that

but I think a great deal might

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Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution. 19

of this discussion, if we are to get any good from it, would be
for the Association to say most distinctly that neither singers
nor players can be considered one or the other from a
musician's point of view unless they do study harmony. As
a teacher of singing I confess I always ask my pupil before
we commence what key is this piece in, and whenever we
have a mistake I suggest, " How could you possibly make that
mistake when the harmony is so-and-so ? " It has always been
part of my system, and I do not know that it takes any longer
time — on the contrary, I find that it saves time. I heard the
remark made by Dr. Frost referring to the harmonic scale,
the true mode, as I imagine, of playing the scale, that
being the one which has the same intervals ascending and
descending, and I must say that is the scale which I always
teach vocally. I do not consider the other a scale at all ; it
is not a scale, it is a hybrid. Although Dr. Frost seemed
to exclude the harmonic scale from vocal music, I, on the
contrary, always teach that scale for the minor, and consider
it is even more easy to sing than to play on the piano.

The Chairman. — I think we may admit it as a foregone
conclusion on this occasion, and that Dr. Frost's opinion will
be endorsed by us all, that no one can be properly an executant
on the pianoforte, or a vocalist, or player on any instrument,
without becoming a musician. It is to be deplored that the
time given to teachers in schools does not enable them to
carry out this, but I do think with Mr. Osborne that it is
possible in a subsidiary manner to corroborate what the
professor of harmony teaches. However, I think that in
order to play well it is necessary to be a musician is such a
foregone conclusion that it is unnecessary to trouble you any
further on that particular subject. I will, however, endorse
very firmly the remarks of Dr. Frost about the signature of the
minor scale, and I think he hardly made so strong a case as
he might have made with regard to it. It might be pointed
out that when you are playing in such a key as C minor,
you have a flat standing at the signature which, when you
want to use the seventh note in the diatonic scale, you are
obliged to contradict. Consequently it is really an anomaly,
you place a stumbling block in your own way that you must
contradict before you can be in your proper key. I do not
enter into the question of those harmonies which are treated
as in the key by a peculiar system of which I am not an
advocate ; I do not touch on that ground at all, I merely
point out that when you want to use a certain note, such as
B natural in C minor, which is evidently a diatonic note in
the key, you have to contradict the signature. Habit has so
much to do with these things that when I have made some
attempts to substitute the proper signature, for instance, put
a G sharp standing as the signature of a piece in A minor, I

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20 Theoretical Study as an Assistance to Execution.

must confess that, simply because one was not used to it, it
was sometimes a great difficulty; but I think, like pedal
playing on the organ, it only wants a little study and
practice in the proper manner to overcome. It is quite
certain that we do not have the true signature if we draw a sign
at the beginning that is actually contradicted almost through-
out the piece. With regard to the difficulty of the extreme
second, which exists in the true form of the minor scale, Mr.
Cummings has pointed out that he finds that an excellent
scale for the service of his pupils. I can only say that if it is
the true scale, and if musicians feel it is the true scale, it should
be the object of teachers not to succumb to difficulties, but
to overcome them, and in this way the extreme second
would become, as it seems to me, one of the most
beautiful characteristics of the minor key. I could point to
many instances in music in which it is used. You remember
the overture to the " Ruler of the Spirits," in which there is a
descending scale for the violoncello occurring near the
beginning in D minor, where that interval occurs. There
is the case which we so frequently find in Handel in
his " Lessons," where in descending the seventh is sharp
and the sixth is raised a semitone, the effect is to me exceed-
ingly ugly ; the descending minor scale with the seventh and
sixth both sharpened. 'Hie true scale is, I think, admitted
by theorists to be as Dr. Frost mentioned with the minor
sixth and the major seventh both ascending and descending,
and if it presents a mechanical difficulty to the executant, or
an unusual difficulty to the vocalist, it is the duty of the
teacher not to yield to this but to overcome it.

A vote of thanks to Dr. Frost for his paper terminated the
proceedings.

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December 3, 1883.

Mr. W. H. CUMMINGS, F.S.A.,
In the Chair.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE THROAT IN SINGING.

By Emil Behnke, Esq.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I know the time
of this Association is very precious, and I do not intend to
exceed it. I will, therefore, not make any preliminary
remarks, but shall at once commence my subject. By means
of the sketch you now see on the screen I propose to explain
as briefly as possible the position of the parts that had
to be photographed. There are only two things I need
say anything about ; the one is the larynx, and the other
the soft palate. There is no necessity to say anything about
the others, because they speak for themselves. The larynx,
or voice box, you see down below in the throat. This is the
left half of the body, the right half being supposed to be cut
away. Here you see the left vocal cord, or left vocal liga-
ment, and above that this curved line shows the left pocket
ligament, and between these two ligaments there is an
opening. That is the opening running into the left
ventricle, or pouch or pocket of the larynx. It is main-
tained by some that, in the act of singing, a tone is
imprisoned, as it were, in the cavity formed between these
two pairs of ligaments, and that an explosion takes place
which ushers the tone into the world. It has always been a
mystery to me how a tone can be imprisoned. I can under-
stand that air can be imprisoned, but not a tone. I shall be
able to show to you quite plainly — in fact, it is one of the
lessons enforced by these photographs — that the pocket
ligaments never meet in phonation, therefore it is quite
impossible that any air or tone could be imprisoned in the
cavity between those ligaments and the vocal ligaments.
If we go a little higher up, we see here the lid or epiglottis
forming, with some adjoining parts, a tube through which
the air passes up and down, and over which the food
goes in the act of swallowing. The food has to pass
over the voice box and behind the wind-pipe, through
the gullet into the stomach, and the lid allows itself

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22 Photographs of the Throat in Singing

to be drawn over the aperture of the tube just described,
thereby closing it. If at any time that act is not per-
formed properly a little food will find its way into the
voice box, with what result we all know. We then say the
food has gone " the wrong way." It is very necessary to be
clear about this tube. Through it we have to breathe and
to sing, and down it we have to look by means of the
laryngoscope if we wish to see what is going on in the larynx.

There is one thing I am anxious to point out very
particularly. If you imagine a mirror to be held here, by
means of which we could see what is going on down there,
then you would not see all these different parts as they are
represented on the screen ; that is to say, the vocal
ligaments, the pocket ligaments, the cartilages of Santorini,
and the cartilages of Wrisberg, the folds of mucous
membrane and the lid, you would not see these things above
each other as they are here, but you would see them
apparently on a level. It is necessary to bear that in mind,
or you will not understand the photographs of the larynx.
You will see in the first place how very hidden an object the
voice box is. That constitutes one of the difficulties in
photographing it. In the second place, however light it
may be in the mouth, it would still be quite dark down in
the throat. Therefore the second difficulty is how to
get the light there. And in the third place, a difficulty is
created by the fact that the larynx, and the parts of which it
consists, are scarcely ever still. It is continually moving,
more or less.

Now, photographs of the larynx are one part of my subject,
and the other part consists of photographs of the soft palate.
To obtain photographs of the soft palate was, comparatively
speaking, a very easy matter. The soft palate has much greater
influence on singing than is generally imagined, and this
influence on pitch, as well as on quality, I shall endeavour to
bring before you to-night. You will easily see that by raising
the soft palate so as to shut off the nasal passages from the
throat, the tone would be compelled to pass out of the mouth ;
and if the tongue were not in the way, and other circumstances
were favourable, the tone would be a pure vocal tone. On
the other hand, it is possible to lower the soft palate so that it
completely falls on the back of the tongue ; in that way the
mouth is cut off from the throat, and the sound passes
through the nostrils, constituting nasal tone. I will not stay
to explain this further, but pass on to show you how the light
is to be managed.

Second View. — Imagine this little line here to indicate a
small mirror seen sideways, and let this represent a reflector
on which light is thrown from some source or other, either
artificial or sunlight. The light would be thrown by the

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Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

reflector in the direction of this line on the little mirror. It
would of course be reflected downwards at exactly the same
angle at which it is thrown on the mirror ; so that if we had
the vocal ligaments down here they would be illuminated,
and not only that, but their image would be reflected in this
little mirror. So that if an observer had his eye at a small
hole that might be drilled into the reflector here, and he were
looking exactly in the same direction in which the light is
thrown, he would see in the little mirror the image of the
vocal ligaments down below.

Third View. — The picture now on the screen shows you
the process of laryngoscopy. You see the observer with a
reflector fastened to his forehead through which he is looking
— he is looking through a small aperture in that reflector.
Light is thrown on the reflector, and is reflected on the little
laryngeal mirror which he holds in his right hand at the back
of the throat of the sitter. The light is thrown down into
the larynx, and the observer, looking through the hole in the
same direction in which the light is reflected will, of course,
see in the laryngeal mirror the image of the vocal ligaments
below.

Fourth View. — Now we come to the process of auto-
laryngoscopy, that is to say, self-observation with the
laryngoscope. In this instance the person making the
investigation on himself holds in his own hand a laryngeal
mirror at the back of his throat. We have here a lamp and
a reflector. From the reflector the light is thrown on the
laryngeal mirror, and is reflected downwards on the larynx.
Here you see a small square mirror in which the observer
himself sees the image which is originally shown in the
laryngeal mirror. Now it will be quite clear to you, if you
imagine a photographic camera placed here instead of
the eye, that it would be possible to photograph the image
in that little mirror.

Fifth View. — The image now on the screen shows the
process of taking a photograph. It is taken from a very
elaborate work on light by Dr. Stein, of Frankfort-on-the-
Maine. This is the Doctor himself, and the gentleman here
is the sitter, the man upon whom the observations were
taken. You observe that he holds in his right hand the
laryngeal mirror, and sunlight is thrown from this reflector
into his throat ; and in the little mirror marked C he
sees the image of his own larynx reflected. Now this
constitutes the great drawback to the whole process. If
they had really a desire to be successful they ought to have
fastened this little mirror right in front of the camera. It is
quite clear that they could never get a photograph in this
way, because the line of light and the line of sight are not in
the same direction ; the sitter might see the laryngeal image

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24 Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

perfectly clearly, but it could never be shown in the camera
at the same time. The consequence was they did not succeed,
but even if they had succeeded their photographs would have
been open to great objections. You observe in the sitter's
left hand a spatula ; he is one of those unfortunate individuals
who are not capable of controlling their tongues; there-
fore he has to hold it down with a spatula. That is a
distinct drawback. Laryngeal photographs obtained under
such circumstances can be of little value from a physiological
point of view. I will just try to illustrate to you what I mean.
Some time ago I had the pleasure of seeing in the throat of
one of my pupils — a talented public singer in London — the
mechanism of two registers, that is to say, the upper thin
register and the small register, most plainly. I was just then
engaged, in conjunction with my friend, Mr. Lennox Browne,
in writing a new large book on the voice, and I asked my
pupil's permission to have drawings of those two registers in
her throat made for the purpose of illustrating our book, to
which she readily consented. I took her to Mr. Lennox
Browne, and when he looked down her throat he caused her
to put out her tongue, and held it as surgeons are in the
habit of doing. When he looked into her throat he said,
" I cannot see the mechanism," and I looked over his
shoulder and saw nothing of it either. I was puzzled for a
moment, when this lady very intelligently said, " Ah, Mr.
Behnke, you did not hold my tongue when you looked down
my throat." This was true, and the moment she was allowed
to put her tongue in the proper position we immediately saw
the two mechanisms. By simply pulling out the tongue, the
muscular movements, upon which these mechanisms depend,
were destroyed, and therefore the investigation was of no
use at all from a physiological point of view. So that if a
person is not capable of keeping under control his or her
tongue without any mechanical means, it is hopeless to get
anything like a proper image.

Sixth View. — This is a laryngeal photograph taken by
Dr. French, of Brooklyn, New York, on June the 8th, 1882.
I show you this more as a matter of curiosity than anything
else. I do not think you will make much of it, but I will try
to explain it. This is supposed to be the upper, and this
the lower lip. Here you see the one solitary stump of a
tooth which this poor individual had in his mouth. I suppose
he had false teeth and was wise enough to take them out
before the photograph was taken. You observe the laryngeal
mirror at the back of his throat and you get a glimpse of the
two vocal ligaments widely opened in the act of breathing.

Now I am inclined to think that these lines are put in
because they are so distinctly shown, and it would be very
marvellous to me if the pocket ligaments, which are usually

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Photograpns of the Throat in Singing. 25

more difficult to photograph than anything else, had really
come out as plainly as one of them does in this case.

Seventh View. — Here you get one of my own photographs.
I may just say that this transparency is the very worst of all ;
it is very thick, and does not show as well as the others.
I do not show you this for the purpose of explaining any
details, but simply to illustrate the process. First, let me
say that whenever this photograph is shown anywhere it
is not the laryngeal image here at the back of the throat
which excites the greatest attention, but the first question
always asked is, What are those two white spots at the top ?
and therefore I think I had better explain how those two
white spots come there. We were working with an electric
light, kindly supplied by the late Sir Wm. Siemens, of
10,000 candle power, and therefore I had to protect
my eyes by wearing very dark goggles. Even with these
goggles when the light was sometimes accidently shot into
my eyes instead of into my mouth I was nearly blinded.
These two white spots are the result of the very powerful
light shining on the edges of the dark goggles which I was
wearing at the time.

This photograph is absolutely untouched. As a picture
it might have been improved very easily by painting out
all these scratches and spots. There are some spots very
noticeable here on the teeth and at the back of the throat,
and by painting out all that we might have improved the
photograph very wonderfully, but, on the other hand, we
should have taken away a great deal of its value. I assure
you again, this photograph is absolutely untouched. You
will, by and bye, see enlargements of the laryngeal image,
and then you will be able to appreciate what it really means.
Here I have in my right hand the laryngeal mirror, my
left hand (you may, perhaps, be able to make it out faintly)
was held up here. I held up my index finger. I was looking
into a little square mirror which was fastened to the shutter
of the camera, and at the particular moment when I saw a
reflection of the laryngeal image in the little mirror I dropped
my left index finger, somebody pressed on a pneumatic tube,
the shutter was raised for a third of a second, then to drop
again, and the photograph was taken. Observe that here the
tongue is absolutely lying in its place. There is no spatula
nor is the tongue put out and held. Some people say you
cannot get a view of the vocal ligaments without either
holding your tongue down with a spatula or putting it out and
holding it, and, therefore, all the observations which you are
making are perfectly useless. This photograph disproves
that objection altogether. It shows you plainly that it is
quite possible to get a most perfect laryngeal image with the
tongue absolutely in its original and proper place.

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26 Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

Eighth View. — Here you get another laryngeal image;
this, of course, is enormously enlarged. At the top are the
upper teeth. Here you see the laryngeal mirror, and in the
mirror you have, first of all, the upper free rim of the lid or
epiglottis ; below that, you have the right pocket ligament
and the left pocket ligament ; and below that again, you
have the two vocal ligaments, closed in phonation. Here
you have those folds of mucous membrane which, as you
remember, run down from the lid upon the cartilages
of Wrisberg and Santorini. Now I will mention a circum-
stance which will show to those who know anything about
laryngoscopy the marvellous perfection of these laryngeal
photographs. If a doctor looks down a patient's throat he
holds the mirror so that he gets a sight of one part of the
larynx, then he moves it and gets sight of another part ; he
moves it again, and sees something else, and so he keeps on
shifting the laryngeal mirror until at last he has inspected
the whole larynx. In these photographs you do not
only get a view of the whole thing from one end to the
other in the one mirror, but you get something outside
the laryngeal image itself. You get here something in-
dicating one of the hyoid bones — one of the tongue bones.
You see quite clearly the dark shadow indicating the hollow
which separates that hyoid bone from the larynx itself. I do
not think it will be possible to imagine a laryngeal image
more perfect than that.

I have been speaking about the pocket ligaments, and you
remember what I said about the theory of the inflation of
the ventricles between these two pairs of ligaments ; the
right ventricle would be between the right pocket ligament
and the right vocal ligament, and the left ventricle between
the left pocket ligament and the left vocal ligament. You
see clearly how far apart the pocket ligaments are in
the production of tone, and, therefore, it is out of the
question — it is quite impossible — that there can be any
inflation of the ventricles. That is the second point proved
by the photographs.

There is another point which is very interesting, quite
independently of singing, and that is this. You shall have
an opportunity presently of comparing this laryngeal image
with the laryngeal images as they are generally shown in
books on physiology, and you will see the great difference.
When we first had this photograph taken we were greatly
puzzled by the meaning of these double lines. These are
not shown in printed laryngeal images, and we were greatly
distressed about them. We looked upon them as a very
great blemish, and we tried very hard to account for them.
This was one of the explanations upon which we hit : we
said, those double lines are the result of double reflection ;

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Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

we have here a laryngeal mirror where we get one reflection
on the surface of the glass, and the other reflection at the
back, where the glass is silvered ; and therefore we had
laryngeal mirrors made which were silvered on the
surface, but the result was the same. We tried again to
account for it, and we accounted for it by vibrations. It
never struck us that in that case all other lines ought to
have been doubled too. This explanation, therefore, would
not do either. Suddenly the thought struck Mr. Lennox
Browne to look down my throat in the ordinary way, and
to compare the image he saw with the photograph. Well,
he said " the photograph is perfectly correct — it is just as we
do see it ; it is the published images that are wrong." Of
course, we might have known from the beginning that the
photograph could not tell a falsehood. This just shows how
apt we are to allow our judgment to be warped and our
vision to be distorted by things which we are accustomed to
see or hear, and by which we are surrounded, however false
they may be, until at last, when the truth itself is presented
to us, we refuse to believe it.

Ninth View. — I show you now a laryngeal image of
Czermak, which has probably been copied more frequently
than any in existence. You will see that these outlines here
are single and exceedingly sharp, certainly very different
from those outlines which I have shown you, and which I
am going to show you again now, so that you may see the
difference between the two images quite clearly.

Tenth View. — These are the two lines you just saw in
Czermak's laryngeal images, in addition to which you have
here two additional lines. The explanation is this: these
lines are the outlines of the highest part of the two
pyramid cartilages, with the cartilages of Santorini and
Wrisberg upon the top of them. What you see here is
simply the outline on the basis of these very same cartilages
right down below at the bottom of the tube, and therefore
in the nature of things you see these double outlines. This
photograph shows the larynx in the act of singing in the
upper thick or upper chest register. The next represents a
higher tone in the same register, and it is but slightly
different.

Eleventh View. — This is a different image, the whole being
lower down in the mirror. In the first place, you see here a
great deal of the tongue, which you do not see in the other.
You see very clearly the upper free rim of the lid or epiglottis,
and the slit running down from the lid on the pyramid
cartilages. The slit is a little narrower than in the last — it
was a higher tone than the preceding one.

Twelfth View.— Now we come to an image showing the
falsetto, which I daresay will be particularly interesting to

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28 Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

many of you. The term falsetto, as we all know, is in-
terpreted in different ways, and it is not always easy to
understand what is really meant by it. I am anxious to
make myself quite clear on this point, and therefore I wish
to say that, so far as I understand the voice, there are two
mechanisms (I am now speaking of the tenor), that is, the
chest voice, to use that old orthodox term, and the mixed
voice, in which there is muscular tension. The vocal
ligaments are close together, and the soft palate is
contracted; there is tension everywhere. On the other
hand, you may produce a tone which is commonly described
as falsetto, and there the circumstances are quite different.
We know, for instance, there is a great waste of air ; the tone
runs away, it is a poor, fluty tone ; you can do nothing with
it. You cannot cultivate it, you cannot get a crescendo
or diminuendo, and you may sing in it as long you like, you
will never strengthen it. That mechanism is now shown
here. If you recollect, the vocal ligaments in the other two
photographs were close together, here you observe there is
a slit between them. This, of course, accounts for the waste
of air when singing in that mechanism. If you look into a
person's mouth while singing with this mechanism you will
also find that the soft palate, which in the mechanism of the
mixed or thin register was tense — contracted, is quite lax ;
it does not hang down as in nasal tone, but it is, notwith-
standing, limp. The falsetto, as I understand it, is essentially
a false production of tone, a tone with which we can do
nothing. I might perhaps say, in order to avoid misunder-
standing, that Signor Garcia applies the term falsetto to the
medium register of the female voice, which entirely alters the
case, but I do not use the term in that sense at all.

Thirteenth View. — Here you have another image of the
falsetto register. This is a very good one indeed. You see
it contains a great deal of the tongue, and you see not only
the upper free rim of the epiglottis, but you even see a
considerable portion of its upper surface, and you see very
clearly the slit between the two vocal ligaments. Of the
lower cartilages, of which I have spoken before, you see
nothing here because they are out of the mirror.

Fourteenth View. — The last four photographs which I have
had on the screen are not absolutely untouched. I may just
say that, owing to the glare of the terrific light with which we
worked, and owing very likely also to reflections, the
difference between the pink pocket ligaments and the vocal
ligaments does not come out as clearly as could be desired.
Therefore in these four photographs Mr. Lennox Browne has
from nature, looking down my throat, slightly strengthened
those lines, but nothing else has been done to them whatever.

Fifteenth View. — I now show you an enlargement of the

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first laryngeal image thrown on the screen. It is absolutely
untouched. If you compare this with those four I have just
shown you, I think you will agree with me that we have
really done very little to them. We certainly have not put
in anything that was not there previously. You see these
very large spots of moisture on the lower teeth, as indeed
all over the photograph, which of course spoil the appearance
of it altogether. Now if you look on this absolutely untouched
photograph you might fancy that the space between the two
pocket ligaments was smaller than it really is. I want you
to understand that that is not so. You see a part of the
right vocal ligament that shows very distinctly, but it is
really a great deal broader than it appears here. After the
lecture I hope to have the pleasure of giving a demonstration
of this physiological fact by means of the laryngoscope in my
own throat to any who may be interested in seeing it, and in
order that you may understand what you are going to see, I
will now throw on the screen a repetition of this photograph,
but this time coloured. That will speak very much more
clearly than any of these simply black and white photographs.

Sixteenth View. — This has been tinted. You see here the
rim of the lid or epiglottis, the two pocket ligaments and the

ligaments are of a pinkish colour, and that the vocal ligaments
are of a pure white colour. The contrast to the eye as you
will see them in the laryngoscope is as great as between the
teeth and the lips, and therefore it will be quite impossible
for you to mistake them. You will see the movements of the
vocal ligaments in the production of the voice, you will see
what takes place before the tone is struck, and you will see
what takes place the moment the tone is struck in the
different mechanisms.

Seventeenth View. — Now I pass on to the soft palate. I
said when I commenced that the influence of the soft palate
on the pitch as well as on the quality of tone is greater
than many people are inclined to believe. We first had the
idea to get the different positions of the soft palate, in
the production of different tones, illustrated in the book by
drawings, as these things are generally illustrated. And those
drawings were actually made ; but after they had been made
it occurred to us that in all probability they would be
disbelieved, and therefore we made up our minds to have
these photographs taken, because of course it is impossible
to gainsay what is shown by means of photography. Most
of the things you see here speak for themselves. You see the
upper teeth, the lower teeth, the tongue, and the soft palate.
Here you see two arches, and I want you to notice par-
ticularly this arch, 3, 5, 4. Of course, 5 indicates the uvula.
The uvula is contracted a good deal, and so it should

two vocal ligaments. Now

will observe that the pocket

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30 Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

be in the production of good tone. That shows what
occurred when I was singing F, the fourth line in the bass
clef. Please look again at the arch 3, 5, 4, and I will then
throw another image on the screen, taken while I was singing
A. Now kindly compare the two arches minutely.

Eighteenth View. — You will observe that the arch is much
higher and narrower than before, and you will find the
difference greater still in the next photograph.

Nineteenth View. — Here you have the soft palate as it
is in singing C ; the arch 3, 5, 4 has been raised considerably
and the uvula has almost disappeared. So much for the
influence of the soft palate on the pitch, but its influence
on the quality of the voice is even greater. In order to
show you that, I will now put on the screen another photo-
graph showing you exactly the same tone in pitch as the
last, but with a nasal quality.

Twentieth View. — Here the arch has completely collapsed.
It was up in the one case, now it is down. The tone cannot
pass out of the mouth, it is compelled to pass behind the
soft palate through the nose. I will have those two photo-
.graphs thrown on the screen alternately whilst I sing the
notes in the two ways, and then you will be struck by the
difference. It is this photograph which really has excited
more wonder, if I may say that, and also more doubt, than
any of the others. Even the laryngeal photographs have
escaped criticism when this has been criticised pretty freely.
When Mr. Lennox Browne showed this same photograph
a few months ago at a meeting of the British Medical
Congress, at Liverpool, it was this of all others which
excited doubt in the minds of many of the doctors there
present; and we have been asked point blank whether we
could really say that it was a true photograph — that it was
not-" faked." I can assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that
nothing at all has been done to this photograph except this :
In some of these photographs the whole of the back of the
throat was covered by little white spots caused by the
moisture, which in some of them caused a very nasty appear-
ance indeed, and in order to get rid of that we painted these
white spots out, but no lines have been put in and you shall

screen a transparency that has been made from the original
negative of which this is an enlargement, and the one I am
going to show you now is absolutely untouched. Just try
to keep it in your mind and then compare it with tne other
one, and judge for yourselves whether this has been at all
interfered with or not.

Twenty-first View. — As a picture this is the best of the
photographs. Of course, it is much smaller than what you
have seen before. If you are not too far off you will see

I am now going to put on the

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31

a number of white spots here on the uvula and on the back
of the throat which interfere with the picture, but you will
see that the outline of the palate is exactly the same as it
was in the last.

The Rev. Thos. Helmore. — May I ask, when you showed
the lady's mouth in various forms, was she singing all the
time ?

Mr. Behnke. — Certainly.

The Rev. Thos. Helmore. — But when the tongue was out
she could not sing.

Mr. Behnke. — Certainly not ; that is one of the reasons
why the tongue should never be put out. What I have tried
to show you to-night is that the objection that it is necessary,
in order to get the laryngeal image, to interfere with the
tongue is absolutely unfounded. You have seen in these
photographs most clearly that perfect laryngeal images have
been taken. Of course, it is much more difficult to take photo-
graphs than simply to get a view, but the photographs show
the fallacy of the objection. There is no necessity for putting
out the tongue or interfering with it in any shape or form.
If a singer has the tongue under proper control, that is all
that is required, and every singer should be in a position to
control his tongue. That is one point, the second is this :
that the theory that the tone is enclosed in the ventricles
between the two pairs of ligaments is quite unfounded. In
the third place, I have tried to show you the influence of the
soft palate on the pitch and on the quality of the voice.

There remains only one other objection to laryngeal obser-
vation and that is this : There are some people who are
never tired of saying to us 4 4 You can shriek, or bellow, howl,
or make any noise you like with the laryngoscope at the back
of the throat, but you cannot sing." Now I had the pleasure
of giving a demonstration to Dr. Stainer quite recently,
when he was good enough to preside at a lecture I had the
honour to give at the South London Institute of Music, and
I appealed to him directly as to whether I was " shrieking,
bellowing, or howling," or whether I was singing, and he
said I was singing. I do not think there are many here who
would quarrel with Dr. Stainer on such a point as that.
Still, those of you who are interested in the matter shall have
an opportunity of judging for yourselves if, after the discus-
sion which I hope will take place, you will kindly step behind
the screen. I may just say that two of our leading singers
have lately been induced to give their opinion about observa-
tions with the laryngoscope in writing. I refer to Mr. Santley
and Mr. Maas. I think it is a very great pity that these two
gentlemen have written those letters, and I think they have
been placed in quite a false position. Mr. Santley says he
cannot sing with a laryngoscope at the back of his throat,

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and Mr. Maas says he can only produce a tone like the baa
of a sheep. Well, as a friend of mine put it in a letter
which he wrote on the subject to a paper, Mr. Santley and
Mr. Maas may not be able to play the trombone but other
people can, therefore what does that prove ? It proves very
little. But at all events, so far as you are concerned, you
shall have the opportunity of judging for yourselves.

DISCUSSION.

The Chairman. — Ladies and Gentlemen, I am quite sure
we can have but one opinion here to-night with respect to
Mr. Behnke's most admirable exposition of these vocal
organs on the screen as we have seen them. I am bound to
say, from my knowledge of the subject both of singing and a
little of laryngoscopy, in tests which I have attempted on my
own person, that these are very marvellous things and they
are not easy to do. It is not an easy thing to use the
laryngoscope, and therefore what Mr. Behnke has done is
not only very extraordinary, but I feel we have been all very
much pleased and enlightened by what we have seen. There
are certainly some things which are quite revelations to me.
Although I should hardly like now to go into any discussion
or criticism, I think I should object to some things Mr.
Behnke has said, but I will not do that now if you please,
but propose a vote of thanks to Mr. Behnke, which, I am
sure, you will all give as cordially as I propose it.

The vote of thanks was put and carried.

The Rev. Thos. Helmore. — I should like to ask Mr.
Behnke what is his opinion with reference to our altos who
are generally supposed to use the falsetto.

Mr. Behnke. — With regard to the alto voice I had the
opportunity some little time ago of examining the throat of one
alto singer who, I think, at one time was rather well-known
in connection with the Moore and Burgess Minstrels, in
St. James's Hall. He came to me for instruction in some-
thing or other. I forget exactly what brought him, but I
had the opportunity of looking down his throat, and I found
that the mechanism by which he sang was exactly the same
mechanism as that in all the ladies in whose cases I was able
to make any observation at all. For instance, in the upper
part of what you would call in the woman's voice the medium
register, there was exactly the same elliptical slit which I
observed in the case of the lady to whom I have just
referred, whose laryngeal image you will find in our book ;
and as he sung up the scale that slit became smaller and
smaller, just as in the case of a woman, and as in the case
of a boy.

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Dr. Lennox Browne. — I had hoped that we should have
had some words from Signor Garcia, because if there is
anybody who is practically interested in the results of these
photographs it must be he. One of the most interesting
facts that we have learned in all our experiments has been
the perfect verification by such further investigation of the
researches which Signor Garcia made, nearly thirty years
ago, and were embodied by him in his now world-wide
known paper before the Royal Society. Of course, that
result cuts two ways ; on the one hand, it would tell against
us laryngoscopists and doctors, because it might be said,
" Well, what are you teaching more than a professor of singing
has taught all these years ? " On the other hand, we are happy
to be able to say, " Yes, but that professor of singing was a
great physiologist, and his evidence supports us in our con-
tention that physiology is the basis of pure singing." I fear
that it is very difficult to speak of Signor Garcia in this con-
nection, especially in his presence, without saying more than
would be desirable. He might receive it as fulsome, which
I should not wish him to do, but I could not help saying these
few words. As to the alto of whom Mr. Behnke has spoken,
I might say that he came to me as a patient, having lost his
voice. He had made a large sum of money with Moore and
Burgess ; he had received a good salary, but he had lost his
voice. I told him distinctly, " Your voice has failed because
you are employing a wrong production, and this is the penalty ;
you ought to have kept your money while you were making
it, because I could have told you at the beginning that if you
went on using your voice in the way you have been doing
the means whereby you had earned it would be exhausted."
He went to Mr. Behnke, who, confirming my view, showed
him how to sing — not with that unnatural voice, but still,
with a very good serviceable voice if he liked. The patient,
however, preferred keeping a public house to singing in a
natural manner. With reference to the question of protruding
the tongue, it should be remembered that the reason we
doctors request our patients to do so is that we see a number
of people who cannot keep their tongue down in the floor of
their mouth, and it is only by drawing on the tongue that we
are able thoroughly to explore every nook and corner of the
vocal apparatus. This we do when searching for disease.
But it is a totally different matter when using the mirror for
the purposes of the present paper. Of course, there are
always a certain proportion of people, though a small one, who
are physically unable to show their larynx during singing.
One of the peculiarities of this question is that people who do
these things with facility have a natural gift for doing them.
Mr. Behnke has naturally a good throat for showing the
larynx, but beyond that he has educated himself by long prac-

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Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

tice until he is able to keep the tongue in the floor of the
mouth as few singers can. When, therefore, a great vocalist
says he cannot produce a musical tone with the laryngeal
mirror in position, he forgets that however well he may sing as
an artist, ability to accomplish the feat in question is simply a
matter of education. We do not mean to say that any one can
sing words with the mirror in his throat ; that is a very different
thing, but he can vocalise sounds that are pure musical tones.
When Mr. Santley or Mr. Maas, or anybody else, says he
could not produce a tone with a laryngeal mirror in his mouth,
we must know whether he introduces it properly ; whether
he has taken the trouble to educate himself properly ; or
whether, if done by another, the person who introduced it
knew how to do it. I have had a large number of persons
come to me, and the first time I have put the mirror into
their mouth I have told them to sing a certain tone, and
they have sung it, and I have heard a musical tone. I do
not mean to say that they could see their own vocal
ligaments in the mirror themselves, but they were able to
sing a pure tone with a mirror in their throat. With
reference to protruding the tongue, we are obliged to do it,
as I said before, when we want to see every part in disease ;
and I therefore, by instinct as it were, took hold of the young
lady's tongue, of whom Mr. Behnke has spoken, but we
did not see what we wanted to see. The moment she
retracted her tongue and held it in her mouth we were able
to see it. It is therefore a fact that protrusion of the tongue
may interfere with the tone, but it is not necessary ; so this,
the most frequent objection to the advantage of laryngoscopy
in voice teaching, falls to the ground. I think that as musi-
cians may learn from doctors, so doctors may learn from
musicians, and I have, as the result of my collaboration with
Mr. Behnke, been enabled now to see a large number of
patients without ever making them protrude their tongues at
all. I saw a clergyman to-day whose charge is in this neigh-
bourhood ; I could not see his vocal ligaments at all at first.
Then I said, " Draw your tongue back into your mouth," and
I saw them very well. There are a great many points of
interest in connection with this matter, but as we have
recently put forward our views in print, I will not detain you
with any further remarks.

The Chairman. — The subject of falsetto has been touched
upon by Mr. Helmore ; and I think the falsetto voice
has been described in rather opprobrious terms. Now,
referring to the gentleman with the alto voice, who was
one of the Christy Minstrels, probably I may have heard
him sing, although I do not frequently go to that exhi-
bition, but I have been there and I must say I have
heard the altos there force their voices so frightfully that

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35

I am not at all surprised that they had to consult my friend.
Dr. Browne, to get a little relief if possible. Therefore I
think the case referred to would be a bad case in point ; and
we must not forget that there are instances innumerable of
men who have been in Cathedrals throughout the country
and in London — I could name one or two— who have not
injured their voices. For instance, there was Mr. Thomas
Young, who was known for many years as an alto singer, who
never used any chest voice at all, but always sang with the
sweetest and prettiest falsetto. You may have heard him at the
Temple. He sang up to the age of sixty-seven or seventy,
and certainly was always in the very rudest of health (if one
might judge from his appetite) up to the time of his death.
I am not going to defend the falsetto voice, but still it must
not be forgotten that it would be possible to use the falsetto
— I do not think Mr. Behnke will disagree with this —
if people chose to do it, without injuring that voice
or their health. Again, I do not quite agree with him if he
meant to say that the falsetto voice is not useful in the tenor.
It is quite clear — at least I speak from my own experience —
that it is possible sometimes, in a particular piece, or for a
particular purpose, to use a falsetto note ; it might be towards
the end or close of a song instead of what I call the mixed
voice — what he calls the upper thick voice. I think it is
possible to use it in such cases with great effect ; in fact, so much
so that people do not know when the note is so produced,
and it cannot hurt you. I think also it would be wrong if I
did not say one word in defence of my friends, Mr. Santley
and Mr. Maas. I have not read their letters ; but if they
have said as much as this : that they thought it impossible to
produce tones such as they used ordinarily in singing— to
sing with the same facility and produce tones with the
laryngoscope in their throats — I should agree with them,
because I do not think it is possible.

Dr. Lennox Browne. — They did not say that.

The Chairman. — If they went to that extent I should
agree with them. I do not think if I had to apply for a vacancy
in St. Paul's Cathedral, and had to sing my trial solo, even
without words, with a larnygoscope in my mouth, that I
should do quite as well as I should do without ; therefore I
think something may be said in their defence. Again, as
Dr. Browne has pointed out to us, these arts of laryngoscopy
want practice like all other arts — it is impossible for anyone
to use them without a great deal of experience. Even doctors
themselves, and students at hospitals, have to practise the use
of the laryngoscope before they can use it. It wants many
months of practice, and it is extremely difficult to place it so
as not to produce a feeling of sickness at the back of the
tongue. With regard to the influence of the soft palate and the

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Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

tongue I quite agree with Mr. Behnke. I do believe that
there are more bad voices produced, or more heard, from the
fact that the soft palate is allowed to drop down than from
any other cause. I believe that is one of the most prolific
causes of bad tone. It is impossible to get a good tone when
the soft palate is dropped. Then again the experiment about
the nasal tone is somewhat difficult to comprehend, for this
reason : I myself have had a pupil who had a most dis-
tinctly dreadful, nasal quality, and it puzzled me very much
to know how to improve it. I tried all sorts of things. I
tried all I knew, and all I did not know, and at last it occurred
to me that the air was not properly directed, and I told him
to sing, for many months, scales and intervals with the mouth
absolutely shut, thereby forcing the tone simply through the
nose. By that means I got rid of the nasal tone. I do
not know how that comes about, but after having practised
for some time with his mouth shut he got rid of that nasal
tone. I have said these few words not because I want at
all to find any fault, but to explain the views I have as
regards the falsetto, and I do think that the case mentioned
by Mr. Behnke was not a good one, but probably a very bad
one. Of course, we can understand it would be much better
for a man with a falsetto voice to use his own natural voice,
which would probably be a baritone.

Dr. Lennox Browne. — The objection to the laryngoscope
is that no tone, worthy of the term " musical," can be pro-
duced by a singer on whom it is applied. If, however, we
want to see how a mechanism is produced in the larynx we
do not require to have a scale sung, but only one or two
tones sung with that particular mechanism. We do not
suggest for a moment that you are able to sing a song or
a scale or anything of that kind with a mirror in your
throat, but you may sing a tone in the chest voice or in the
falsetto or in any different register, and presupposing that
you have a musical ear and a musical voice that tone shall
be a pure musical tone ; that is all. I have heard my friend
Mr. Behnke, by the way of a joke, or as a tour de force,
vocalise " God Save the Queen ' — of course, not articulating
it — with the mirror in his throat. That he has done re-
peatedly in the presence of a number of people.

The Chairman. — I should like to ask Mr. Behnke one
question, if he does not mind : " Have you ever been able,
with the use of a laryngoscope, to pass from one voice to the
second or third on the same note together, from the chest to
the mixed voice or the falsetto ?"

Mr. Behnke. — No.

The Rev. T. Helmore.— You have very justly touched on
a subject which is of great difficulty, that is getting rid of the
nasal quality. I have had a great deal of trouble myself in

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Photographs of the Throat in Singing. 37

that way. I have always held what you have just now
shown to be the fact, that what is called the nasal tone is
not the sound proceeding through the nose, but it is the
sound caught, as it were, in the apertures behind the soft
palate, and there vibrating. I am speaking now with my soft
palate down too much, as some of our friends on the other
side of the Atlantic do. As soon as I raise the soft palate
that goes away. If I might make a practical suggestion — if
you want to get rid of it — the best thing is to make people
aspirate well.

Signor Carozzi said the views presented with regard to
the nasal tone were very different from those he held as the
result of some twenty-three years of practice, and that was,
that the nasal tone was produced by a wrong position of the
tongue.

The Chairman.— -I understand Signor Carozzi to say that
it is the action of the tongue rather than that of the soft
palate which causes the nasal tone. The question is whether
the fact of placing the tongue right down does not almost
compel you to get the soft palate in the right position also.
I think that is very likely. I find when pupils have their
tongues well placed, coming well down against the lower
teeth, and rather hollow in the centre, as a rule the soft
palate is in the right position also.

Dr. Campbell Pope. — I believe one objection to Mr.
Behnke's results about the pocket ligaments is this : " That
no doubt the pocket ligaments do not come together in
Mr. Behnke's photographs as the result of the projection of
Mr. Behnke's own voice." I think it would, perhaps, clear up
any doubts in those gentlemen's minds who object to that
view in this way. He, of course, had had the opportunity of
seeing the vocal cords of great singers when they had been
singing; can he assure those gentlemen who object — I am
not one of those myself, but I know there are such objectors
— that the pocket ligaments did not come together in those
eminent artists ?

Mr. Behnke. — If I were to reply to everything which has
been said I should not only give you one more lecture but
two or three ; I shall therefore be very brief in what I say.
Replying to the last question first, which to my mind is one
of the most important questions which can be asked, I would
just say most emphatically that nobody in this world,
from Signor Garcia down to myself, ever saw the pocket
ligaments meet in phonation. Now we are continually told
— I am not referring to gentlemen here present, but to
others who shall be nameless — that if the vocal ligaments
^:an be seen we are producing a bad sound, we are not
producing a pure vocal tone. We are told that it is a
condition of good tone production that the pocket ligaments

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Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

must meet. From such a statement it follows that neither
Signor Garcia nor anybody else in all their lives saw-
anybody who produced a good tone. The thing is too
absurd to be considered for one moment. With regard
to the limits of the voice, I think that is outside of our
subject to-night. Then with regard to the very valuable
remarks which have fallen from Mr. Cummings with refer-
ence to the falsetto. I do not think, if I had the opportunity
of discussing the matter with him, we should differ for one
moment. I think it is simply a question of definition of terms.
If the term falsetto is used as Signor Garcia has used it then
there is no more to be said about it. If it is used as I use
it, as being a totally false production of voice, of course that
is quite a different matter. That kind of tone Mr. Cummings
would never have used I am certain. With regard to Mr.
Santley and Mr. Maas, I want you to understand that I am
very far from making any attack on those gentlemen. I should
not do that if they were here, much less should I do so in
their absence. I simply say that they have come forward with
these two letters of theirs to support a theory which is unten-
able. We do not say it is possible to sing an operatic air with a
laryngoscope in the throat — nobody expects such a thing,
but what we do say is this : that it is quite possible to hold
the laryngoscope at the back of the throat and sing a pure
vocal tone either in this register or that, and from these
observations we can learn very much. It is a pity for
men who occupy such a high position to lend their names
to discourage anything in the shape of scientific research.
With regard to the soft palate, that matter lies in a nutshell.
It has just been said by Mr. Helmore that nasal tone is
produced not by the tone passing through the nostrils, but
by its being caught somewhere, I do not know exactly where.
You can test that for yourselves. Take a little hand mirror
and hold it against your upper lip with the glass upwards
and sound a pure vocal tone ; the glass will remain perfectly
bright. Sing again, with the glass upwards, a nasal tone,
and it will be immediately covered with moisture. What
does that show ? That the tone passes through the nostrils.
That seems to me unanswerable. There is the fact and you
cannot dispute it. Then with regard to the question which Mr.
Cummings asked as to what might be the effect of causing
a man to sing through his nostrils for the purpose of curing
the nasal tone. I do not know, I have never tried it. I
should say that the air being continually directed against the
soft palate might cause the person to learn to contract it.
But I take a different plan. My plan is simply this, and I
advise any of you who are interested in the matter to try it^
Stand before a mirror, direct the light so that it illuminates the
back of your throat without your having to twist your head.

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Photographs of the Throat in Singing.

39

Then take a smart inspiration through your nostrils with the
mouth open. That will cause the soft palate to drop. Let
the air pass out of the mouth, that will cause the soft palate
to rise. Repeat these two acts alternately and continue to
raise and to lower your soft palate for a considerable time.
What does that mean? That means just the same thing
as extending and flexing your arm ; that is to say, you are
continually contracting and relaxing all the muscles of which
the soft palate is composed, making them strong, hard and
tense. If you can make people get control over the soft
palate the nasal tone will pass away. With regard to Signor
Carozzi's remarks, all I can say is this : I have shown the
photograph, and see no use in arguing against it. He
tells me it is the tongue which causes nasal tone, but I have
shown you in the photograph it is the soft palate. If you
like you shall see it again, or you can see it in my own throat.
The tongue lies perfectly flat, and the very hollow that Mr.
Cummings was referring to will be seen perfectly clear.
It is the soft palate and nothing else which causes nasal
tone.

Mr. Behnke afterwards demonstrated the points illustrated
by the photographs in his own throat by means of the
laryngoscope and a powerful oxy-hydrogen light.

In conclusion, I beg to propose a vote of thanks to the
chairman who has, for the second time, done me the honour
to take the chair for me. I am sure we are very much obliged
to him for coming.

The vote of thanks was carried unanimously.

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January 7, 1884.

CHARLES STEPHENS, Esq.,
In the Chair.

CIPRIANI POTTER : HIS LIFE AND WORK.
By Prof. Sir G. A. Macfarren.

The Musical Association has given me a great privilege
in allowing me to offer this tribute to the memory of a man
whose monument stands in the brains and hearts of all who
knew him. Philip Cipriani Hambley Potter was his full
name; he took the name of Cipriani, by which he is most
familiarly known, from his godmother. She was the sister
of a painter of high eminence in England, Giovanni Battista
Cipriani, a native of Florence, who came, after mature study
in his own country, and held here a most important position.
It was he who was engaged to restore Rubens's pictures in
Whitehall, and many other professional duties devolved upon
him, besides the production of paintings of his own. He
was one of the twenty-three painters who signed the petition
to George III. to grant a charter for the Royal Academy of
Arts, and it was also this Cipriani who was appointed by
his fellow members of the Institution to design the diploma
which is signed on the admission of members. He died
seven years before the birth of the man who bears his
surname as a Christian name. The name of Philip may
perhaps have been given to our friend, for such is the
endearing title by which I am proud to call him, from the
■son of this Cipriani, who seems not to have pursued the
arts as an avocation, for he was a clerk in the Treasury.

Potter was born in the year 1792, on October 2; he was
buried on the seventy-ninth anniversary of that day, in the
year 1871. He died on a day which is doubly memorable
to me in the record of my griefs, September 26. He came
from a musical family, and such has been the case with
many, if not most, of the musicians who have gained the
world's esteem. His father was a teacher of music ; his
uncle was a flute player who made great improvements in
the flute, which was then comparatively in its infancy, and

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42

Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work

the flute as altered by him is still known as the Potter flute
The first teacher of Cipriani Potter was his father, and it
was while he had had no lessons, except from his father,
that he was already acknowledged as a player, although he
appeared not in public, for public appearances were scarce-
at that period ; but still, while seven years of age, he often
played at private parties, and always with admiration. He
was then submitted to the care of Attwood to teach him
counterpoint. It is doubtful whether he was also a pupil
in harmony of Dr. Callcott. Certainly he was of Dr. Crotch,
but he himself used to attribute his chief advantages to
Joseph Wolfl, a pianist, who settled here when Potter
was in his early youth. Wolfl was born in the native town
of Mozart, in 1772, and he was a pupil of Leopold Mozart
and of Michael Haydn. He came to England in 1799. He
made occasional continental visits, during which he produced
the operas which gave him some successes ; but his permanent
residence was in London, and he died here in either 181 1
or 1 81 2. It is to be regretted that he was a person of
intemperate habits, and probably it was his free course of
life which occasioned its early close. Potter used to speak
of him with profound admiration, and to ascribe to him the
principles of plan of which he himself became a teacher,
and to him also those principles of pianoforte playing which
himself advanced. It is important to observe that in these
two particulars, of pianoforte playing and composition, Potter
has had a most marked influence on the musical development
of the present age ; and since Wolfl died before Potter was
twenty years old, it must have been very largely owing
to his own reflections that that style of pianoforte playing
was matured, and to his own particular genius for the instru-
ment that we may ascribe what may, I think, fairly be
designated as an English school of pianism. There must
be present here, not only the chairman, who, like me, may
boast himself in some particulars as the pupil of our friend
Cipriani Potter, but some too, who, if not his pupils, are
certainly his grand-pupils and great-grand-pupils, who repre-
sent in the second and third generation the excellence of the
views which were first promulgated by him, and have been
disseminated from time to time to the lasting advantage of
music in England.

Let me say what I mean by the term "school" in pianoforte
playing, in order to do justice to Potter as a master. I refer
to position of the hand and to fingering as the parents of
touch, or the means of producing power and quality of tone,
and also for dividing music into phrases, and hence for giving
expression to what a player conceives of the composer's-
intention. We all know that the written notes are but a
meagre indication of the artist's idea, which is for the

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Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work. 43

1

executant to vivify by the magnetism of his own genius ; and
the command of mechanism for so doing and the power of
applying it, constitute school in a pianist.

We must, in order to judge of the merit of Potter as a
teacher of composition, consider what was the state of music
at the time when he came upon the world. The music in
England then of the highest esteem was that which has the
credit of being peculiarly English — namely, the Glee; and
Webbe and Dr. Callcott were the most highly honoured
classicists of that school, a species of composition in which
there is no development at all, in which an idea is presented,
and before it is entirely complete there is some change of
tempo, some change of measure, and a new idea is started.
The grand masterpiece, as it is generally considered, of glee
writing — "When winds breathe soft " — is cut up into as many
fragments as entitle it to be called a musical mosaic. Con-
tinuity seems to have been outside the thoughts as well as
outside the capability of the writers of the period. Then
there was Shield in great esteem, whose setting of the words : —

Yes, yes, by Heaven, I exclaimed, may I perish,
If ever I plant in that bosom a thorn.

will give you some recollection of the kind of sentimentality
which prevailed in the solo vocal music of the period.
Let us then think of Attwood, who was Potter's master,
who was Mozart's pupil, who was one of the most genial
men that could be encountered by those who were best
able to appreciate him. He so entirely succumbed to the
prevalent ignorance of the time, that in an opera which
bears his name, "The Woodman," he inserted, without a
single word of acknowledgment, the entire air of *' Non piii
andrai," from an opera by Mozart, of which he had
witnessed the first performance, and which he had brought
home in his portmanteau. That such a thing could be, shows
a very low condition of musical knowledge if not of musical
taste — not of musical taste, I will own, since the public of the
period could hear and like, although under the name of
Attwood, this very admirable song.

Now let us look to the name which is the most prominent of
all the circle of names of the period in our present memory,
I mean the name of Bishop. Bishop in his first days wrote
some overtures to his so-called operas, which have a classic ring
about them and a sterling musical feeling ; but these must
have been little esteemed, because we find later, that when he
was announced in the play bill to have " composed, arranged,
and adapted for the English stage " the opera of Figaro, he
made a new overture, in which was introduced, as a solo for
the keyed bugle, the popular melody of " Lieber Augustin."
These are samples of the state of music in England when
Potter began to work.

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44

Cipriani Potter: His Life and Work.

In 1 813, the Philharmonic Society was started. Potter
was then ineligible for membership, because the sound rules
of our country made it impossible for a person to hold
responsibilities until he had attained his majority; and as
that could not happen until the end of the year, whereas the
Society began its operations on the 8th of March, he could
not be enrolled among the original fraternity, and it was not
until the 2nd of October had passed that he could be elected
a member of the Society. But so well was he esteemed,
even at that very early age, that those men who might be
called the Nestors of the musical profession, John Cramer,
Dance, Salomon, Neate, and other notabilities, were happy to
receive him into the fraternity as soon as he could be legally
elected. It was in 181 7 that he made his first public
appearance, and this was at a concert of the Philharmonic
Society, when he played a concerto of his own composition.
Thus he was acknowledged in the two-fold capacity of
composer and player. This was before the completion of
his twenty-fifth year, and it must be remembered that the
Philharmonic Society of that period was the institution
which held the entire control of serious instrumental music
in England. Before this Society was founded there had
been more or less successful speculations to bring serious
instrumental music to public hearing, but this was the first
established institution, and it was established with the
-complete support of all the lovers of music in the country.
The entrance to its subscription list was consequently so
difficult that intending subscribers had to register their
names perhaps years before a vacancy would occur, because
the concert-room was limited, and there could only be
accepted as many subscribers as could be seated therein.
The management of the concerts was as careful and
restrictive in its choice of works and executants, as the
list of subscribers was limited by considerations of space.
No piece and no player was admitted into the concert
programmes that was not supposed to have very peculiar
and special merit. Thus the admission of the young
pianist and young composer was a mark of high distinction.
After having made his success at the Philharmonic concert
in March, 181 7, Potter went abroad to Vienna, where he
stayed for sixteen months, as much for the purpose of study
as for the sake of obtaining experience of other musical
performances than were to be heard in London. At that
time London was not, as it is now, the centre of all that is
to be heard in music. Now, every experience may be made
here — every player, every singer of European acknowledg-
ment, comes to London to give us the opportunity of hearing
his or her performances, and every composition of interest
is produced here ; but such was not the case in the early

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Cipriani Potter: His Life and Work.

45

part of the century. In Vienna, Potter met with the best
celebrities of the time. He had letters to Beethoven; but he
was warned by the persons he met not to go near him,
because he was utterly mad, he had recently produced his
Symphony in A, which was such a wild extravagant work
that its author was to be avoided as of dangerous influence.
I have heard Potter relate, more than once, that one of his
chief advisers in this direction was Moscheles, who later
obviously changed his views, since we owe to him the
promulgation of the music of Beethoven, and the production
in London of the first complete edition of the master's
pianoforte works. However, Potter met with one sound
counsellor, Streicher, the pianoforte-maker of Vienna, under
whose advice he presented his letter to Beethoven. Beet-
hoven received him with kindness, and, in a letter to Ries,
we find this passage, in Beethoven's hand : 44 Potter has
often visited me. He seems to be a good man, and has
talent for composition." Potter besought Beethoven to give
him lessons, but he refused. He said he could not teach
composition. He had had pupils for pianoforte, but would
not even acknowledge Ries as his pupil for composition, but
only as a pianist. He said to Potter, " It is indispensable
that you study counterpoint." 44 By all means," said Potter,
44 to whom shall I go for lessons ? " 44 There is only one man
who could teach you — Albrechtsberger — and he is dead."
So Potter had to enquire elsewhere for a master in counter-
point. He placed himself under the care of Manuel Aloys
Forster, a native of the neighbourhood of Vienna, who spent
his life in the Austrian capital, who was born in 1757, and
who died in 1823, so that his experience was mature when
Potter placed himself under his direction. Beethoven, how-
ever, although he did not teach him composition, consented
to read his productions, and to advise him upon them, and
did so in many instances. Potter meeting him, wished to
tell of his delight at the works of Beethoven with which he
was familiar, and spoke with rapture of the Septet in E flat.
Beethoven repudiated his rapture, however, and said he
knew not how to write when that was produced, and had
learnt entirely different principles since then. As to the
roughness of Beethoven's manner, Potter told many anecdotes,
and one that is highly characteristic. Beethoven invited
him on one occasion to dinner, and they were sitting at table
when such or such a dish was served up, whereas Beethoven
had ordered another, and seizing that one, threw it at the
servant's head. There was nothing left but bread and
cheese, so that Potter regaled himself rather with his
company than on his diet.

After a stay of sixteen months in Vienna, our friend went
to Italy to give as much variety to his experience as the

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Cipriani Potter: His Life and Work

very different style of music which prevailed in Italy would
afford him, and thus he cultivated that broad liberality
of taste, and complete openness of view which always
characterised him. With reference to his sojourn in Vienna,
it may be mentioned that he witnessed the annual entry of
the troops of all the many nationalities comprised in the
Austrian territories when they have to pass in parade before
the emperor, and it was, I think, a most bright idea of
Potter, that the Variation in the last movement in the choral
symphony, with the martial tones of the military instruments
for the new development which it presents of the principal
melody of the whole movement, must have been suggested to
Beethoven by the grand view of these countless varieties
of soldiers in their endless diversity of costume, and the
splendid pageant which attracts all the population of Vienna
to witness it. I refer to the musical setting of the stanza of
Schiller's Ode to Joy, comprising the lines : —

Conquest in your train attending,'
Speed ye, brothers, glad and true.

which the tone poet has presented as a triumphal march.

When Potter returned to England he again played at the
Philharmonic, and the piece in which he made his re-
appearance was the Concerto of Mozart in D minor. He
had learnt, perhaps in Vienna, and from the particular
explanations of Attwood, who had witnessed Mozart's per-
formance of his concertos, the fact that the printed copies
are but indications of the matter which Mozart himself used
to play, and he had gathered from Attwood and others what
was the manner in which Mozart used to amplify the written
memoranda in his performance. It almost amounted to a
re-composition of the part to fill it out w r ith such pianoforte
effects as would do justice to the original intention, and it
was with such amplification that Potter presented the D
minor Concerto. It was in such wise that at a later time
Mendelssohn made his first appearance as a pianist here with
the same concerto, and with that kind of treatment of the
printed sketches.

In 1824, Potter produced his first symphony at the
Philharmonic Society. He wrote eight more ; nine in all
were produced, and especially may be remembered the one
in G minor, which was written as a commission from the
Philharmonic Society. In 1832, the Society had commissioned
Mendelssohn to compose three works, a symphony, an
overture, and a vocal piece, for which they offered him the
sum of 100 guineas. The value of this commission is quite
obvious to us all. The results of it were the symphony we
know as the Italian Symphony in A, the overture known as
the Trumpet Overture, and the concert aria " Infelice." Some
of the members of the Philharmonic Society were jealous

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Cipriani Potter: His Life and Work.

47

that this large sum of 100 guineas should be given to a
stranger for his works, whereas there were persons resident
here who had the power of producing music, and who were
quite as susceptible of guineas for their works as anybody
«lse might be. Let it be remembered, however, that whereas
Mendelssohn was offered in that year 100 guineas for three
works, in the second year of the Society's existence Cherubini
had received 100 guineas for one symphony, and that
symphony has not had the good fortune to excite the
admiration of all hearers as the Symphony in A major of
Mendelssohn has done. There was a large clamour in the
Society at this time that other persons than Mendelssohn
should be commissioned to compose works. Several
musicians, therefore, were entrusted, each according to his
specialty, one to write for the pianoforte, one to write a
vocal piece, one to write an overture, each at the rate of a
third part of 100 guineas for his work. Potter was then
engaged to write a symphony, which commission eventuated
in the production of the Symphony in G minor, which is
printed as a pianoforte duet ; a work of which I well
remember the themes, and I believe it was subsequently more
often played at concerts of the Philharmonic than other
pieces of his composition.

Let us now step back ten years, from 1833 to 1823, when
the practical operations of the Royal Academy of Music
began. The institution had been founded in the July
previous, and, in the March of 1823, the school was opened
for instruction. Potter was appointed chief professor of the
pianoforte for the male department, different professors at
that time of day being engaged for the female department,
and as if to stamp upon history the fact of his being founder
of the English school of pianoforte playing, he gave the very
first pianoforte lesson, or the first lesson on any subject which
was given to any pupil of the Royal Academy of Music. His
pupil was Mr. Pye, who has since left the musical profession
for other pursuits. Let us hope that he has as much
satisfaction from the profits he makes in commerce as other
pupils of Mr. Potter have from the musical knowledge they
have gained.

In 1827, when the famous Bochsa had fallen into some
disgrace here, and the Royal Academy directors thought it
expedient to discontinue his services, which to that moment
had been of great value in the formation and practical
arrangement of the Royal Academy, Potter was appointed
director of the orchestral practice, and conductor of the
public concerts of the pupils, and in this capacity he had an
influence on everybody throughout the whole school. A
word of advice, a word of enc©uragement from him was
ready for everybody of the smallest or of the highest pre-

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4§

Cipriani Potter: His Life and Work,

tensions, not only his own pupils as pianists, but the pupils
of everyone else, were they players or singers, and more
especially were they composers. At that time, he taught not
composition ; but his valuable knowledge, and, though he was
young, his still more important experience was at the service
of everybody. It was a most charming trait in his character
that he had not only a kind word, but in many, many
instances a witty remark whenever occasion called it forth.
So one day when Lord Westmoreland, who measured twice
Potter's height, came in to rehearsal, and, caring for nothing
that was going forward, cried to the conductor in his strong
voice : " Oh, Potter, Potter, Potter, why do those boys play
so loudly?" With great submission and deference, Potter
replied to him : " My Lord, my Lord, because they are boys ;
when they can play piano they will no longer want to be
pupils." As another instance of his happy readiness of
words, I may quote an examination at which he presided, and
to do justice to this I must mention the name of the pupil
who was being examined, a person who has since planted
himself well in a remote part of the country, and who is
doing good service to music — Mr. Gee. He gave a very
smart answer to some question that was put, and Potter
said, "If you speak always like this, we will call you G
sharp." Less complimentary was his saying on one occasion
when there was a concert in Drury Lane Theatre, in
1837, to raise contributions to the fund for erecting the
statue to Beethoven in Bonn, and the "Mount of Olives"
was performed under the direction of a professor who was
then conductor of the Ancient Concerts, and who had rather
a habit of letting the music go than of making it go, and
Potter said of him that he was a "non-conductor."

Let us now review the work of Potter as a teacher of com-
position. You have heard what kind of music prevailed in
England before his influence changed the direction of study
and the emulation of students. I believe it to have been he
who first promulgated the principles of plan. "Plan" was
the word he used, a most significant and completely compre-
hensive word to represent the principles of design in musical
art. It is now customary to speak of the same thing under
the name of "form"; but form can only be used in a
metaphoric sense, since it applies to tangible and visible
objects, and unless we count the remarkable form which the
waves of sound take, there is no form, truly speaking, in
music ; it is only metaphorically we can speak of musical
form by analogy with the forms employed in other arts. But
decidedly there is a plan in the arrangement of ideas, in the
conduct of keys, in the juxtaposition of one musical phrase
with another, the distribution of rhythm, and the whole
musical structure. So I think the term " plan," which he

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Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work.

49

was wont to use among his pupils, is the best that can be
applied to what it distinctly defines ; it makes music really
into an art instead of an accident. As to the unrelated
arrangement of thoughts which appears in the glee composi-
tions, and in the bald writing of the previous time, whatever
pleasantry of phrase, whatever momentary happiness of
effect from the combination of voices or instruments, there
is no continuity in such compositions. But Potter showed
his pupils the art of continuity in the development of musical
ideas — the structure of complete compositions. I believe
that this was not known in England before his time, or if
known it was certainly unpractised. His method of explain-
ing this was so clear, so charming, so interesting to all who
heard him, that the application of his principles became not
only the study but the delight of those who had the
advantage of hearing them ; and this advantage has been
disseminated by his pupils until now, when, I believe, the
structure of the sonata is very generally understood, and,
in many instances, very happily practised. His views on
instrumentation were as important as on managing ideas.
He had a great knowledge of instruments, a happy way of
writing passages appropriate to each, and a very great
felicity, also, in arranging their combination. His scores
were always clear, and he showed his pupils how to produce
such clearness. He was not unused to tell us that it would
take a person thirty years to learn how to fill a score, and
then his education began, because it would take him thirty
years more to learn to take out the surplus instruments.

With all his happy disposition for musical production it is
very remarkable that in his last years he lost all interest in
his own music, and had no care either to hear it or to hear
of its being played. Still, as I have said, he wrote nine
symphonies ; he also wrote three concertos for his instrument,
and a sonata for two pianofortes, a noble work which has
been many times played, and is very admirable for displaying
the skill of the executants as much as for the interest of its
• ideas. He has written studies, too, for the pianoforte, which
embody a wealth of instruction. He has written violin
quartets; one important vocal work was his cantata to
Italian words, called " Medora e torrado," on the subject
of Byron's " Corsair." There are some detached songs,
especially one of more length than others, which was sung
at one of his concerts by John Parry, for John Parry, with
all his comicalities and infinite humour, was first known to
fame as a sentimental and very meritorious singer ; this is
the Ode to Harmony. It has been hinted to me that Potter
had written a good deal of music which has come before the
world under the name of the Earl of Westtnoreland, but I
think the internal evidence is against the truth of that.

E

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Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work.

However, he was certainly on most familiar terms with the
Earl, and had a very great personal regard for him. Yet
he was subject to constant irritation in being thwarted in
his administration of the Royal Academy when, after Dr.
Crotch's retirement in 1832, he was appointed Principal.
The Earl, as President of the Institution and controller of
its funds, held despotic sway, and exercised it in the most
arbitrary manner. I never could learn directly why, after
holding the office of principal, after being the chief com-
position master, and the chief pianoforte master for twenty-
seven years, Potter in 1859 resigned all these appointments.
He would only say that he wanted rest, that he could no
longer bear the anxieties of teaching and the cares of his
appointment ; still he continued for some years to give
private lessons, and I cannot but suppose that he really
relinquished his post because he would not quarrel with
the man whom he personally regarded, whose services in
the establishment of that Academy he was always ready to
acknowledge, but whose views in many instances differed
from his own. In retiring from that three-fold responsibility
which he held in the Royal Academy, he by no means lost
his interest in the welfare of, or his personal regard for, every
musician who was connected with it, and most especially
would he boast again and again, in reviewing the public
performances which he witnessed in London, how large
a share in the advance of music was due to the Royal
Academy. He would point to Sterndale Bennett, the con-
ductor of the Philharmonic at the time; to Lucas, the
principal violoncello; to Howell, the principal double-bass;
to Thomas Harper, the principal trumpet, and to other
persons who held the most important positions in the
orchestra, and to Miss Dolby and Miss Birch, who were
principal singers, and to composers whose works were there
brought forward, as persons who did great honour to the
country ; and he acknowledged also with great satisfaction
and pleasure other pupils who had also accepted his
instruction and advice.

Potter's resignation of his academical duties was an
opportunity for the gathering together of his friends and
admirers to offer him a testimony of their loving respect.
Accordingly, in September, 1859, a subscription was opened,
which was closed in June, i860, and to which contributions
were made by the professors, the directors, and the students
of the Academy, by former pupils of Potter, and by many
of the more distinguished musicians of the time. The fund
thus raised was appropriated, firstly, to a rich gift of silver
plate, as a personal memento, and secondly, to the endow-
ment of the Potter Exhibition in the Royal Academy, which
is yearly competed for by students of two or more years'

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Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work.

standing, and aids the winner to defray the cost of prolonged
education, and thus will perpetuate the name of Potter in the
Institution, in whose proceedings he was most largely and
most beneficially influential.

In his last years he was very remarkable for the eager
interest that he took in everything that was new. Many of
us when we get old in life get old in capacity, we get stiff in
our views, and rigid in our prejudices, and bound to the con-
victions of early days, and incapable of receiving a new love.
But, to the very last, Potter was as keenly sensitive to the
newest work of real merit as the youngest enthusiast could
be. When the works of Beethoven were first brought here,
in which many of his specialties were most prominent, it
was the custom of the time to cry out against these in
London, as it had been in Vienna when Potter went there
in 1817, that the author was a madman, and that the music
had no interest in it. Henry Gattie, the late violinist, who
was known to many of you, whose early fame faded in his
latter years, and who finally, from loss of sight and loss of
reason, was incapacitated for music, was in youth and maturity
a true lover of the beautiful, and one who could keenly per-
ceive its existence. He often told me that when Beethoven's
last Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin was newly imported
here (the one in G, beginning with the J movement), eager
for a novelty from such a source, Potter and he met to play
the work together, and that they were so delighted with it,
with its great unlikeness to what had been done before, that
each prompted the other with some new exclamation of
pleasure, as beauty after beauty expressed itself to them,
and they played it again and again at one sitting, until they
left it knowing the entire work by heart. With the same
avidity did Potter in his last years look at the compositions
of many who were unknown to Beethoven, but who have
dawned upon the musical horizon in our own time. It is
curious that he edited some compositions of Schumann for
an English publisher, and was little attracted by their merit,
and that it was some years after, I believe in the year
1 86 1, that he first gave such serious attention to this com-
poser's music as opened to his observation the great merit
which it possesses. Then he became an enthusiast for the
writer, and made up for his previous oversight. He became
such a partizan of Schumann and his music as to be some-
times the subject of irony to his friends on this account, and
when on one occasion he had hurt his finger and had
a gathering upon it, and was unable to use his hand, some
malicious person said that he had practised Schumann so
much as to have brought on this unlucky suffering. His
prompt insight was not with the music of Schumann only,
but also with that of Brahms, in which, too, he was ready to

E 2

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Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work.

see all that was beautiful, and to make this as far as possible
known to others. His vivid sense, however, of the radiance
of newly dawning luminaries did not by any means close his
recollections of the glories of other days, and he would have
as great delight in playing the pianoforte and flute sonatas
of Bach, or the compositions of excellence of any author of
any time, and especially of his own personal friends, whose
works he would hear with interest, and he would invite
the composers to bring them to him on all possible
occasions.

His last appearance, I can scarcely say in public, but in a
large assembly, was on the ioth of July in the year 1871, in
which year he died. Lady Thompson then gave in her drawing
rooms the first performance in England of the German
Requiem of Brahms, a large number of ladies and gentlemen
constituted the chorus, and in the pianoforte part in the
form of a duet (there being no possibility for a band in the
space), was played by Lady Thompson and Mr. Potter.
His enthusiasm on that occasion extended itself to everyone
who was concerned in the performance. The occasion was
memorable as introducing a composition of rarest merit to
a first hearing among us ; Mr. Julius Stockhausen, who had
carefully trained the singers, conducted the music, and the
audience were all aglow with interest in the work and its
rendering ; but, conspicuous in the whole assembly, was the
small figure of that aged musician, the dearly beloved of
everybody, who was as youthful in spirit, as ardent and as
active as the youngest, yes, and as the wildest, person in
the room. It was impossible then to think of him as one
standing on the brink of eternity, and yet many of us who
were then present treasure the memory of that day as of
the last on which we were in Potter's presence, a memory
wherein music and the musician are inseparable.

His last letter was written to Madame Julia Wolf, who
asked him to hear her play some piece she was to perform in
public. She had been his pupil in the Academy, and, like all
his pupils, she clung to him ever for advice, and sought his
counsel, especially when she was likely to come under severe
criticism, and she had asked him on this occasion to hear her.
But in the letter, which is in very few words, he says he is
out of health, and suffering, and cannot at this moment give
attention to her. The words are as kind as the letter is
short, and you will not wonder that she treasures this as a
most interesting memorial of him.

My remarks have been scattered and desultory ; they have
passed forward and backward through a very important
career ; they have, less capaciously than would have done
justice to the subject, referred to the compositions, to the
playing, to the teaching, and to the personalities of one

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Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work.

53

whom I think I may justly call the hero of to-day. Many of
you may remember his appearance, how he was spoken of as
the musician with the large eyebrows ; how he used to have
a large shirt collar which stood always loose. You may
remember his diminutive figure, and yet his very large
presence, which made itself felt wherever he presented
himself. He was often director of the Philharmonic Society,
and a good many sage counsels for the conduct of that
important institution emanated from him. At the time
when it was the unlucky custom of the Society to have a
different conductor for every concert, he very frequently
filled the office, and he was one of the most successful of
those who alternately held it. He had not the opportunity
of doing himself, or his friends, the justice which he would
have done had he then held the post as a permanent one,
because whatever principles of conducting he may have
displayed, and endeavoured to make familiar to the players,
were contradicted by the person who came next, and when
it came to Potter's turn to conduct again, he had again to
recommence from the beginning. But still he had so clear
an insight into the works of which he was to direct the
execution, and so distinct a knowledge of the effect he wished
to produce, that he, with more facility than other persons,
communicated his views to his players. "When happily, in
1 844, that principle of changing conductors was abandoned,
and Mendelssohn conducted five concerts in succession, a
better system of things was instituted, but Potter never
conducted afterwards. He was always ready and at his
ease in this office of conducting ; he had none of the nice
delicacy of manner which distinguishes some later persons.
He never wore gloves ; he never used a stick. He used to
conduct with his bare hand, and would as soon have thought
of lying on a sofa to conduct as of sitting. He always stood,
and always made clear everything he desired, and the music
went better in the concerts over which he presided than it
generally did under the direction of other masters. I must
now bring these scattered words to a conclusion, in the
conviction that what I have failed to say will be supple-
mented by the recollection of many of you, and by the
belief that you will agree with me in the importance to
music of the subject on which I have had the privilege of
speaking — the very strong effect that Potter's work, Potter's
life, and Potter's teaching has had upon us all. One may
compare his relations to his pupils with the relation of the
sun to the plants ; his intelligence was as the brightness
which drew ever towards it the growing plant, and his
kindness of manner was as the warmth, which sank deep
into the hearts of us all, and made the early fruitfulness of
his labours apparent — such was Cipriani Potter.

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54 Cipriani Potter: His Life and Work.

DISCUSSION.

The Chairman. — I am sure you will all agree that our first
duty is to carry by acclamation a vote of the very sincerest
thank's to Prof. Sir George Macfarren for the remarks he has
made to-day on the worthy man who has left us. I trust now
to hear some further remarks on the subject of Mr. Cipriani
Potter, who was doubtless known, and the results of whose
teaching must be familiar, to many of you. Let us not part
without saying a few confirmatory words on a subject which
I am sure must have touched you all. I had the great
privilege of being a pupil of Mr. Cipriani Potter, and he
was one with whom no one could be without esteeming and
loving him. He was, as I think Prof. Macfarren has very
ably shown us, one whose views in art were eclectic, not one
who was wedded to one particular school and looked down
on the masters of every other which did not commend
itself to his own peculiar sympathies and views. He
looked right and left and admired merit wherever he found
it, although it might not always be in the form which he
most practised and most loved. I can also corroborate what
has been said with regard to the latter period of Potter's
life, and the remarkable change which came over him at that
time, especially with regard to the admiration, amounting
to veneration, I may say, of the works of Robert Schumann.
He became to some extent, as has been indicated, less com-
panionable on that account, because it seemed that he felt
little pleasure in speaking of the music of almost any other
composer. He seemed to set up a standard from the works
of Schumann by which he judged everything else which was
presented to him, with the exception that has been named
of Brahms, of whose works, and especially his larger works,
and chiefly the Requiem, he used to speak in terms of very
great praise. If I were to go on ever so long I could but
add very feebly to the praise which has been so much more
ably set forth. Mr. Potter was a man whom as a master, and
as a friend, and in every other way, it was only necessary to
know to love, and esteem. I think the tribute which has
been paid to him to-day by so eminent a pupil and companion
as Sir George Macfarren is one which must rejoice and
gladden you all.

Dr. Stainer. — I have not had the benefit or pleasure of
being a pupil of Mr. Cipriani Potter, but I rather expected
that Sir George Macfarren would have made some allusion
to his being conductor of the Madrigal Society. He exercised
very great influence over that society, of which he was
conductor for many years. I well remember, as a boy, when
I was called in at the great festivals to take part in those
concerts, the extraordinary effect which his appearance had
on me. I was very pleased to hear that Professor Macfarren

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Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work.

55

had not even forgotten those shirt-collars which always
interested me very much. We used to watch him at these
evenings, conducting, and as the room got warm the starch
lost its effect, and we boys used to be very much interested
as to which side of the collar would come down first.
He was a very good conductor of Madrigals as of every-
thing else when he once began, but was sometimes
rather bothered, I suppose, by being asked by the members,
u Mr. Potter, what is about the time of this Madrigal ? " He
used to say, " This is about the time — one — two," and then
when he commenced it the beat would be something quite
different, so that the actual time differed very much from that
which he gave beforehand. One other thing, although it has
very little to do with Mr. Potter, may be of some interest.
As conductor he used to play a wooden pitch pipe, which I
have the honour to play now as his successor, though I do
not use it very often for the same reason that made it comical
in those days — the note varied enormously according to the
pressure of wind you gave it. He used to begin with a loud
pressure, and as it died away the note was considerably
flattened ; on one occasion he blew it in the usual way and
said, " Gentlemen, that note is G," when a voice said, 11 Mr.
Potter, which end of it ? "

The Chairman. — I may mention also that Mr. Potter was
not a slave to fashion, he used to wear a peculiarly cut coat,
amongst other things, with sleeves cut down completely. He
said he used to leave his tailor with tears in his eyes because
he would not change the fashion. He had a coat made very
many years before at Vienna, and he liked it so much that he
never would wear one of any other pattern.

I will now ask Mr. Blaikley to explain some tracings which
he has been kind enough to bring us, showing the wave forms
of the notes produced by various wind instruments.

Mr. Blaikley. — Sir George Macfarren has just alluded to
the only manner in which, with strict regard to language,
music can be said to have form, and that is through the
traced record of aerial vibrations. Such records we have
here. Many years ago some similar to these were taken by
a beautiful apparatus designed by Mr. Augustus Stroh. His
object was to be able to get records of vocal sounds with
sufficient accuracy to have a graphic representation of their
composition, especially as regards the high partial tones, but
with his apparatus, beautiful as it is, he did not succeed in
getting records of sufficient delicacy to be fully reliable in this
respect, and, therefore, he himself has, in the meantime, rather
dropped the matter. But thinking that we could get a very
fair representation of the wave forms of notes of low pitch,
especially of strongly sounded notes, as from brass instruments,
I asked him if he would favour me by letting me take some

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Cipriani Potter : His Life and Work.

records by means of his apparatus, which he very kindly did.
He had it put in order, brought it to my office, and worked it
himself, I blowing the instruments. If professional players,
playing on the instruments, had blown them, the differences
between the wave-forms might be even more marked than
they are, because I have not particularly practised on any

representing reed instruments — the bassoon, the brass contra-
fagotto in E flat, and the bass clarionet. The second shows
the tones of two brass instruments, the G trombone, and
the E flat bombardon ; and the third shows the vibrations
of membranes as used for drumheads. The lower notes are
most complicated, and give very remarkable and beautiful
tracings. The complication of the wave- form increases
with the lowering of the pitch of the note. The higher
partials of low notes are much stronger in proportion than
those of high notes. In the bass clarionet it would be
interesting to notice the difference between the lowest note,
which is D, sounded from the bell mouth of the instrument,
and the note a semitone above it, which is produced by the
full length of the cylindrical instrument without the bell. In
the brass, I think the most interesting point, perhaps, is with
regard to the lowest note of the bass trombone, pedal G,
where you notice the extreme smallness of amplitude of
the wave, due to the extreme faintness of the prime in the
compound. The curve is highly complicated, and the upper
partials are very prominent. Of the bombardon I have the
eight tones of the harmonic series given, commencing with
E flat, forty vibrations, and going up to E flat, 320. As we
rise in pitch the wave-form approaches more and more
nearly to a simple pendular vibration, and the tone becomes
purer and purer, the E flat of 40 vibrations having a very
complicated form. In the drums there is very little that it
is possible to explain. The effect of the beating tone in the
head — for they seldom give tones without beating — can be
seen in the recorded wave-form.

The Chairman. — Our thanks are due, I am sure, to Mr.
Blaikley for his kind explanation of these things, which are
very interesting, but they want a considerable amount of
looking into to thoroughly understand. I know, from a
promise that he has made to me, that he will be happy at
any time to afford any explanation he can to those who
desire to pursue this interesting subject any further.

Mr. Blaikley. — I should add that I have brought this matter
forward in response to the suggestion of the council some time
ago, that if any member had anything he could lay on the
table which would be of interest, it was hoped he would do so.

Mr. Higgs then proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman,
which was carried unanimously.

one instrument. There

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February 4, 1884.

G. A. OSBORNE, Esq.,
In the Chair.

FORM.

By Ferdinand Praeger, Esq.

It has been, and will doubtless again be urged, that the
term " Form " is misapplied in reference to music, and that
" plan " or " design " are the more correct expressions. But
when men like Ouseley and Stainer in their standard text
books, and all modern German writers of note, adopt the
word " form," I think I have sufficient grounds for continuing
its use. Still, those who incline to the term " plan or design
will find no difficulty in following my argument, as it i
precisely in that sense that I use the word " Form." I shall
be forced to traverse well-known roads before reaching my
destination, but will endeavour to be as brief as the case
will admit.

Since it was out of a combination of dance rhythms that
the 44 Suite de pieces " — the forerunner of the 44 Sonata " —
grew, I shall concern myself with the dance rhythms first.
I do not purpose entering exhaustively into the subject of
the old dances, but will only refer to such as have contributed
to the formation of the "Suite de pieces " — viz., the Courante,
Passacaille, Gavotte, Polonaise, Sarabande, Bourree, Alle-
mande, Siciliano, Minuet, Gigue, Passepied, Pavin, and the
Hornpipe, to which was occasionally added a Fugue. The
term 44 Sonata " is purely accidental, the Italians distin-
guishing instrumental music by the verb sonare as opposed
to cantare for vocal music, hence the name 44 Sonata."

The Sonata form originally was nothing more nor less
than a heterogeneous collection of dance tunes, though it
afterwards became the standard type for Symphonies and all
chamber compositions. With the exception of the Gavotte,
Bourree, and Hornpipe, these dance rhythms have become
obsolete. Interesting as it cannot fail to be to the archaeologist
or ardent student to turn back to the earliest period of his
art, I am forced to leap over the whole era of the first
Sonatists, who, notwithstanding the crudeness of their form

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Form,

and the poverty of their slavishly restricted harmony, all
exhibit some individual praiseworthy peculiarities. But,
even poor as they were, each brought his mite of matter,
helping to build up, atom by atom, the temple of art.

Turning at once to the three greatest Sonatists I come
to dear old father Haydn. The purest dance rhythms abound
in Haydn's earlier Sonatas, Symphonies, and other works,
but every now and then he soars into regions of higher and
more serious inspiration- The works Haydn composed in
London and after his return to Germany bear an altogether
nobler impress. This was greatly to the good of the Sonata
form.

Mozart found the form established, and accepted it in its
integrity. His fertile genius, more highly cultivated musical
training, and perfect sense of formal beauty, were all in-
filtrated into this form, but the form itself he left untouched.

Beethoven, in his first period, accepted the form as it came
from Mozart. To him it became the vehicle for the expression
of some of his most powerful imaginings and consequently
was considerably increased in importance as regards its
seriousness. In his second period he became still more
intense, and in his third period more uncompromising to
accepted traditional form, his impetuosity, which would
brook no control, shaking the form to its foundation. But we
find in the works of these three great masters, and in the host
of their imitators, the purest dance rhythms undisguisedly
used, not intended, however, for dances, but employed as
the media for every kind of deep and heartfelt emotion — from
the hysterical cry of anguish down to the expiring moan of
melancholy, from the topmost note to the lowest depth of
human emotions. But these dance rhythms were and are the
spontaneous ebullition of a people's joy, and their application
for purposes other than this cannot be considered anything
else than a gross misapplication, and shows unquestionably
the extreme dearth and incompleteness of musical material,
proving that music was still in its childhood.

According to modern writers the Sonata form consists of
four movements — Allegro, Slow movement, Scherzo, and
Finale. Sir Frederick Ouseley also teaches four movements
— Allegro, Slow movement, Minuet, Rondo. Quoting from
Sir George Macfarren, " the number varies from two to six,
or even more at the Composer's discretion." German musicians
generally agree with the four movements, and with that
eagerness for analytical investigation, so strong an element in
their organization, they have adopted the practice of minutely
dissecting the various movements. Thus, for example, by
defining the sections or themes, especially of the first part,
as first subject, incidental or subsidiary themes, episodes,
tributaries, second subject, designated by modern German

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Form.

59

•

writers as melody or mittelsatz, free fantasia, &c. But
wherein the practical utility of this lies becomes a matter
of doubt, since what is called a tributary in one place is a
subsidiary in another, and, indeed, all the terms are inter-
changeable. This at least is certain, out of it no concrete
form has been established.

There are Sonatas with only two movements, and some of
four movements with an introduction, which, if taken into
account, would give five movements. And is it to such an
accidental combination that all posterity must cling with
iron tenacity, a " form " in whose defence nothing can be
urged, except that it affords means of contrast ? That
" contrast " is an essential element in our existence I readily
admit, but, apart from this contrast, there is no logical sequence
in the movements. Supposing we take haphazard four move-
ments, each portraying totally distinct and opposed feelings —
and this would be contrast — I fail to find any more reason
for grouping these movements into a whole, called a Sonata,
and then designating that wilful combination a " form," than
for linking four tales, that treat of equally distinct and
dissimilar subjects, into one whole, and accepting that also
as a perfect form. I firmly believe, and unhesitatingly assert,
that there are some of Beethoven's Sonatas, in which the
movements are as disconnected as these four dissimilar tales.
It is an accepted fact that, when the great master was short
of a movement for a Sonata, he sought for a ready-made one
in his portfolio. Of course, it will be at once insisted, that
he would only have selected such as had a consistency and
relevancy, but who will defend the medley of such forms at
the Sonata in A flat major, with its variations, scherzo, funeral
march and toccata ? Original, perfect and beautiful as each
movement is in itself, they are completely irrelevant to each
other. What, in Op. 106, has the fugue — which, after all, is
but a trial of dialectical skill — to do with that sublime Adagio
preceding it, or, in the Sonata in two movements, Op. in,
the impressive and affecting first movement in common with
the variations following, which, with all reverential respect
to Beethoven, might, to my mind, have been intended for a
quartet of flutes. But, you ask, why did not Beethoven change
the form? for it cannot be denied that, compared with
Haydn and Mozart, in their optimistic contentment, he
represents that outbreak of individual thought so long pent
up, and so forcibly represented in the " storm and stress "
period of the beginning of this century. His was a time
of emancipation of free thought. It was then the mind rose
up in the full consciousness of its own power, and demanded
the right to examine for itself what had hitherto been accepted
as immutable law. And therefore was Beethoven gifted with
a freer horizon of thought. Yet, however, he cannot be

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regarded as a reformer as far as the Sonata form goes. His
battering of it was less owing to the intellectual reasoning of
the reformer than to his iconoclastic spirit, the outcome and
concomitant of the period, and, I might add, of the gloomy
circumstances of his life.

I decidedly disagree with Wagner's highly wrought and
poetically idealized appreciation of Beethoven's intellectual
activity. In my judgment much of it is attributable to
instinctive genius impelled by an ever present yearning
for emancipation. The only intentional reform by Beethoven
was the commendable substitution of the Scherzo for the
Minuet. As the name Scherzo indicates (a jest), it afforded
scope for the expression of his strong leaning to the vigorous
"Volks" Melody. The superabundance of cadence and
crystallised rhythm in the Minuet must have proved irksome
to his bluff humour.

Turning for the moment from this unsatisfactory combina-
tion of unconnected movements to " forms " of a more
satisfactory character, consisting of a single movement, I
come to the Fantasia. The Fantasia has no fixed rule as to
form — i.e., as to treatment of 11 plan or design." It is, as its
name implies, the wandering of the mind from subject to
subject, hence, a Fantasia may contain several subjects,
without anyone becoming the principal. It demands no
working out of a theme, and might not inaptly be likened
to the accidental and inconsequent images of a dream. This
is the form which supplies the music market with the most
successful ware, baptised according to fashion, either with its
proper name, Fantasia, or potpourri, divertissement, &c. It
owes its success to its very disconnectedness, since it demands
from the uncultivated ear no effort to follow an intellectual
sequence. That a master mind could infuse even into a
planless form an intellectual profundity, needs no mention-
ing. I would but refer to Mozart's grand Fantasia in C
minor.

The Caprice (from capio, caper) denotes a sudden starting
of the mind, a freak. It is generally a short movement of one
subject of an " ad captandam " character, in keeping with the
definition just given. Occasionally an episode has been
added, but then its original nature, as a spurt of the mind, is
destroyed. The character of the Caprice is to be headstrong
on one subject, different from the involuntary flights of the
Fantasia.

The Rondo differs from the Fantasia and Caprice in a
peremptory insistence on the regular recurrence of the
leading subject. The subject, although interspersed with
episodes, should never be left out of view. Its origin is the
old Round dance, Roundelay (French, La Ronde), in which
the people joined hands and danced to an ever recurring

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Form, 6 i

melody. It differs from the chief subject of the first part of
a Sonata in that it does not imperatively demand thematic
treatment, commonly known as working out.

A comparatively modern form is the Nocturne, of which
John Field is the distinguished and honoured father. The
delicate purity of this master's unaffected melody rises
occasionally to high pathos. He is always perfect master
of this simple form, and in it reaches decidedly beyond his
time — the prerogative of Genius ! His design is as perfect as
his flights of fancy are ideal. He was indeed a gem of the
purest. From Field the Nocturne was transmitted to
Chopin, who infused into it all that peculiar mixture of
heroism and melancholy which were his predominant charac-
teristics ; and who, by the use of harmonies as beautiful as
original, aided also by the immense progress made in
pianoforte "technique," was enabled to impart into it a
greater dramatic power and intensity. But where a more
sustained effort of thematic elaboration was demanded —
e.g., in compositions of the Sonata form, both these com-
posers failed. It is remarkable, too, that it is precisely
in this very element of thematic development Weber also
exhibits similar shortcomings. It is only his gushing,
impassioned delivery of new and romantic ideas that hides
the lameness of his working out, even in his celebrated three
great overtures.

A very strong argument is supposed to be made out when
it is asserted that, in the graphic arts the eye can at one
survey take in and comprehend " form," whilst in music it
is necessary to listen from bar to bar, phrase to phrase, for
the unrolling of the plan or design.

But is not this precisely the case also with literary works ?
There the plan can only be grasped by successive bits. But
if we compare the process required to comprehend a musical
or literary composition with that of understanding "form"
in architecture and painting, we shall see that it is merely a
question of time. For, after all, in surveying a building, or
gazing at a painting, it is only the outline or the main features
that are at first grasped.

According to Dr. Lardner the ear is a superior sense to the
eye, since with the latter the number of objects which can
be grasped at the same moment is very restricted, whereas
the ear can distinguish simultaneously all the different
instruments in an orchestral performance. But, again, the
relative powers of these organs are dependent entirely on the
vitality and strength of the brain, and the uncultivated ear
will be as slow in comprehending the plan of the musician
as the untutored eye in seizing the form of the architect or
the painter. That there can, and should be, as much intel-
lectual form, plan, or design in a musical composition as

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Form.

in the creations of the poet, painter, and architect admits
of no question. Can it be for a moment imagined that an
earnest musician sets about composing without some firm,
decided object in view ? Will any one contend that a serious
musician merely strings notes together as girls do beads?
No ! There is a decided object in view, and where there is
such, there shall we find coherency of matter.

The subjects, or typifying themes, should present themselves
to his mind in the same manner as the structural elements
of a building to the architect, the main features of a picture
to the painter. The filling in of detail will grow out and be
dependent on the subject-matter of the main themes. In
such a case we shall have symmetry, organic development,
and cogency of sequence ; and this is form, plan, or design.

Should, then, the musical composer, I ask, be prevented
from giving such a work its " programmatical title?" Is
this not what Beethoven did with his Heroic and Pastoral
Symphonies, his Pathetic and Les Adieux Sonatas ? and who
will be bold enough to assert that the contents do not justify
the title ? Has not Schumann, more than any other composer,
used programme music, from his album for youth up to his
eminently descriptive IV arum, Grillen, Nachtstiick, &>c., and
imbued them, perhaps, with the most intense vitality of his
intellect. Mendelssohn, too, in his masterpieces, the " Mid-
summer Night's Dream," the " Calm and Prosperous Voyage,"
the " Hebrides," has he not tried his utmost to typify distinctive
elements ? And yet, there are those who cry out against
this use of the " Leitmotiv," for it is nothing more nor less
than this, which the programme helps to discern. One
willingly accepts a key to a picture, the representation of
visible objects, and yet quarrels with the music-programme
key ; whereas music, the art of expressing feelings by sounds,
must decidedly be, and infinitely is, more in want of such help.
Have not, and are not distinguished art critics continually
seeking to fathom the meaning of great musical works,
presuming thereby some " plan or design " on the part of
the composer?

A design, in which the various parts do not necessarily
belong to each other, and in which each part or movement is
independent and complete in itself, cannot be accepted as an
organic whole. Let us accept the different movements as
affording the means of contrast, but let us give to them a
coherency, an absolute necessity of belonging to each other,
and found them on a philosophical basis. The movements
of a Sonata should be connected by links or reminiscences,
culled from the chief subject, the episodes, or the second
subject.

Let it be remembered that a work of art should represent
a perfect, consistent whole. A composer should have a

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complete plot in his mind that he desires to musically
delineate, each movement then proves its fitness, or else it
has no right of existence in that particular place. To make
my meaning clear let us take some simple and unpretending
analogy, say the plan of a novel; let the first Allegro
represent the hero, his youthful hopes and fears, his
struggles, &c, the slow movement embody his love, then, if
there must be a Scherzo, the humoristic phase, and the
Finale, the sorrow of deluded hope, or the triumphant
crowning of his wildest ambitions. The whole should then
be welded together by the recurrence of connecting motivi.

I merely offer this as an example, the composer may vary,
alter, or create his plan as he will, only there must be a
plan. The composer should first mentally construct his
libretto. Let it be the mirage of his idiosyncracy, but let it
have the logical sequence of a literary composition. It will
be at once seen that I am alluding to the individualising of
feelings by characteristic themes, the " Leitmotivi " leading
subjects. This perfectly marvellous discovery is undoubtedly
one of the greatest achievements in the history of the tonal
art. We meet some very faint attempts in composer's works
of a date anterior to Wagner, but of so vague aud evanescent
a kind that they seem mere accidental aberrations, or, at best,
unreasoned visions. Was there ever any thematic " working
out " so wonderfully and organically membered ? Is it not
as if he had loosened the tongue of the musical art, which
hitherto could but have inarticulate lisps ? In the application
of the Leitmotiv to the movements of the Sonata, I see the
only means of giving to this form a rational basis. For an
art that relies on a stencil pattern as a basis for its standard
form — always reverentially referred to as the " classical " —
a form which is in nowise the outcome of any logical
sequence, but of the merest rule of thumb, must be in its
infancy. It is the duty of every musician who loves his art
to put his shoulder to the wheel and help the chariot out of
the rut of humdrum. I cannot conceive any one viewing the
matter in any other light. If there be those who still
believe in the "classical" form, I should be inclined to say
that they look through coloured spectacles, which lead them
to mistake the mildew of old age for evergreen spring.

I have also another form to propose, which I think is in
every respect a supply for a want, and this is the so-called
"Poeme Symphonique," a form in which the different move-
ments are so indissolubly connected that I certainly believe
it to be destined ultimately to take the place of the Sonata.
If the objection be raised that those composers who have
specially used this form are not of the first rank, let it be
remembered how far behind the three great masters were
the first Sonatists. If my argument against the Sonata

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Form,

form shall have unsettled in any way the self-contented
optimism of the upholders of the Sonata form, I then venture
to hope, with some degree of confidence, that they will accept
my conclusions, which must be to the advancement of an art
of which Luther says : 44 Next to theology it is the divinest
thing on earth."

I have alluded to music as yet in its infancy. This cannot be
regarded as a slight to an art which, compared with the other
arts, has had so short an existence. But when, on the other
hand, we feel the irresistible power with which it has coiled
itself round the human heart, when we notice that even in its
most incomplete stage it supplies that yearning of our
existence after the unknown, that even its very undefinedness
is in its essence akin to that great world of mystery hidden
from us beyond the heavens above, and whether we look on it
in its high relation to the sanctity of the Church, or follow its
magical influence down to the lowest strata of human life, we
can but see in this Herculean child the Giant that will
ultimately reach to heaven itself.

DISCUSSION.

The Chairman. — I am sure there are several persons
present who are perfectly capable of giving their views on
the very interesting paper which has been read by Mr.
Praeger, and I hope that some one will rise and say a few
words on this subject, which has been growing very much in
importance of late. We have had in the Musical World
a most interesting account of form by Miss Prescott, in
which she has gone most minutely into all the details of the
Sonata and other forms.

Rev. T. Helmore. — Mr. Chairman, I should like, in thank-
ing the gentleman who has read this lecture, to make a remark,
which I dare say will occur to many people, that in all works of
art there is a great deal of sympathy. Some of the remarks he
has made with regard to the composition of music are equally
applicable to composition of every kind. A very eloquent
extempore preacher of the present century used to say that
his plan of preparing a sermon was to write the first sentence,
which he called making a trench for his thoughts to flow in.
It strikes me that a composer must act somewhat in the
same manner. When the lecturer observed that he must
have his plan in view to a great extent I agree with him ; he
must have a general plan of how the whole will turn out, but
I cannot help thinking that when he sits down to write a
Sonata or some higher work, like the preacher to whom I
referred, he will make a channel for his thoughts to flow in,
in his first opening, and then, as he sits down, his enthusiasm

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will carry him on, and his ideas will adjust themselves step
by step, and, if he has a logical mind, each one will grow
naturally out of the other. With regard to classical forms,
I think they will help a man rather in planning how he
should finish his work. After digging his trench, first of all
there will be a number of classical forms which he would
have to study if he wanted to make a perfect composition.

Mr. Prout. — I should like to say a few words on the very
interesting paper that our friend Mr. Praeger has read to us.
Many of us will recollect that he gave a very interesting
paper about twelve months ago, also bearing on form,
although on a different part of the subject. On that occasion
I was under the painful necessity of differing from him some-
what, and although to a great extent I agree with what he
has said now, I cannot go the whole length with him. I
think he puts it too strongly when he takes the Sonata form
as being rule of thumb and humdrum. There is, I cannot
help thinking, a very large amount of logical coherence in
each single movement of the Sonata form ; as our friend
Mr. Helmore has just said, he thinks when the composer
begins to work on any movement in the Sonata form, he
first of all has to make a sketch in his own mind of the
general purpose of what he has to say, which, I suppose,
being interpreted into technical language, means that he
makes up his mind what his first and second subjects will
be before he starts the movement — at least, that is my
own method. I should never think of beginning to write
down a movement in the Sonata form before I had decided
what the principal subjects were to be ; then the incidental
matter follows to a certain extent logically almost of itself,
one link in the chain suggests the next link, and so the thing
comes out without being a mere heterogeneous jumble, which
may be compared to the stringing of beads. Mr. Praeger
says he prefers the Fantasia to the Sonata form, and instances
Mozart's great Fantasia in C minor, which was, no doubt, one
of his finest compositions ; but I doubt if Mr. Praeger would
consider that a finer work than the Jupiter Symphony or the
G minor Symphony, or the great quartets he dedicated to
Haydn. In those we find not only the charm of idea we
have in the Fantasias, but also through their greater regularity,
a pleasure derived from contemplation of the way in which
he works out the form, and I cannot but think that that is an
additional advantage. With regard to the Fantasias, I would
point out that, at all events in some particular instances
where the Fantasia has been most successful, it approaches
very considerably nearer to the Sonata form. Perhaps one
of the finest Fantasias we possess in music, and I think Mr.
Praeger himself will agree in that, is Schumann's great
Fantasia in C, dedicated to Liszt. It is not exactly Sonata

F

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form, but it is in three movements, each of which bears an
appreciable relationship to the Sonata form ; it has not the
formlessness which we find in such a work as the Fantasia of
Mozart which has been alluded to. As to the homogeneity
of the whole work, and the connection of the different move-
ments, I think more can be done in that way than has been
done by great composers. We have a good example, I think,
in Schumann's Symphony in D minor, which he describes
himself as a Symphony in one movement ; the movements
follow one another continuously, and the ideas of one are
worked up again in different forms in the others. A part
of the opening bars reappears in the slow movement, and the
principal theme of the Finale is made out of the incidental
matter freely used in the first movement. That shows, I
think, that composers do desire to carry out so far Mr.
Praeger's ideas of welding the whole work into a homo-
geneous continuity instead of there being a number of
movements which have nothing more than an accidental
connection. Further, with regard to what Mr. Praeger said
as to programmes being the basis for instrumental music,
I believe it is recorded by Ferdinand Ries that Beethoven
himself had a programme in all his instrumental composi-
tions, although only in very rare instances do we happen
to know what that programme is. Mr. Praeger himself
instances the Sonate Pathetique, the Pastoral Symphony,
and the Eroica Symphony, the Adieu, Absence, and Return
Sonata. To these might be added the Sonata, Op. 90,
in two movements, about which we know that it was
written to illustrate some love affair of Beethoven's patron,
the Arch-duke Rudolph, who had fallen very much in love
with some one below him in station, and could not make up
his mind whether to marry her or not. Beethoven, in the
first movement of the Sonata, is representing the conflict
between duty and inclination, and the second movement is
representing the conversation with the beloved one. That
is said by Ries to be the programme of the little Sonata in
E minor. Then again, we do not know the exact programme,
but we do know there was a programme in Beethoven's mind
for the second Sonata of Op. 31, though he never called it
by the name by which it was christened by the publishers.
Beethoven was asked by Ries once what his idea was; he
never gave any explanation, but simply said, " Read Shake-
speare's 1 Tempest.' " We know there is some connection with
Shakespeare, and I think in the D minor Sonata the connec-
tion is not difficult to trace. I can scarcely agree with
Mr. Praeger in talking of Weber as only giving the Leitmotiv
in a very rudimentary condition, for I think, at all events,
in one conspicuous instance in the " Freischiitz," there is a
very important use of it in that chord of the diminished

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seventh, with the accompaniment of single notes on the
drum, and double-bass always accompanying the entry of
Zaraiel throughout the work. Of course, I do not pretend to
say he carried out the principle of a Leitmotiv to anything
like the extent that Wagner did, but I think he at all events
deserves the credit of being one of the very first to employ it
in a coherent manner, and with evident artistic intention.

The Chairman. — I am sure we shall all be glad to hear if
Miss Prescott has anything to say on this subject.

Miss Prescott. — It seems to me, Mr. Chairman, the best
thing I can say is to quote from Dr. Abernethy, who used
to tell his patients when they came to him, " Go and read
my book " ; but I think there is one remark I might make.
I suppose musical forms are as little obsolete as the human
form. I have heard the Sonata form compared to the
human form as applied to painting ; and that as it is natural
for painters to put their designs in the human form, so it is
natural for musicians to put their thoughts in the Sonata
or kindred forms. The Sonata form is so much a matter
of growth, growing as it does out of the baby Sonata of the
old ballads, that it is not likely to be extinct yet, although,
doubtless, it may be capable of considerable development.

Mr. Shedlock. — Mr. Praeger seemed to me in his paper to
contradict himself somewhat, because, if I understood him
aright in the beginning, he spoke of music as in its childhood,
whereas towards the close, if I did not misunderstand his
words, he spoke about the classic form as the mould of old
age. I disagree totally with the spirit of the paper. Mr.
Praeger may be right, the Sonata form may be worn out, we
may all agree to something better, but I do not think the
time has come yet. The Sonata form, as we have just heard,
was very gradually built up and may be still altered and
developed, and it seems to me we are not to suddenly throw
it over, or attempt quickly to throw it over. He spoke about
Beethoven widening, and of his having changed form. I do
not think it ever occurred to Beethoven to change anything ;
the Sonata form he changed, that is he gave up, in some of
his Sonatas, the usual repeat, in others he altered the number
of movements and reduced them to two, or introduced
variations, but he had no revolutionary ideas ; he did not
determine to abandon it, and in his later works, to speak
only of his Sonatas, he returned to the repeats in Op. 106,
and again in his very last work, Op. ill. So I think it is a
most dangerous doctrine to try to make us believe that the
Sonata, or classic form, is worn out. I think we should go
quietly, and we should certainly see what one of the greatest
musicians has done in developing new form. Mr. Praeger
spoke of Liszt, but he did not speak sufficiently about
Wagner's view of form. We ought certainly not to be

F 2

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blind, or to accept what is past merely because it is past,
but I think it must be a very slow process to make any
change; and as Beethoven did not do so I do not think
there is any man now living who ought to venture to
supersede the Sonata form.

Mr. Barry. — I think there has been one thing rather
overlooked by those who have spoken. Mr. Praeger has
taken for granted that what he calls the "poetic Sonata form "
is well understood, but others seem to think it quite new. It
seems necessary, therefore, to explain how it came about.
Liszt was the originator of it, and was driven to make
a change in the Sonata form when he came to describe a
certain series of emotions or poetic pictures; for such a
purpose he found the Sonata form, as by custom established,
insufficient, simply on account of the recapitulation section.
He found it necessary to do away with that, and hence for
recapitulation he substituted further development. I think
this becomes necessary in the case of a work which rests on
a poetical basis. If a person sets to work to make a piece of
music of more or less delightful sounds, you have the form
ready made to hand which you have only to fill up, but if

form be dictated by your subject. That seems to me what
Liszt has done. Take, for instance, Liszt's Sonata (the story
of which has been told by one of his friends) and the form
he has adopted there is this: — he has the first and second
subject and their working out, then at that point where,
under the old regime, you would expect recapitulation, he
introduces a slow movement, and after that slow movement,
which is an independent movement, and may be played by
itself, he recurs to further development of the first part of the
Sonata, and so introduces part of the slow movement. I
think you will find that to be the case in most of his
Symphonic Poems.

Mr. Stratton. — To my thinking it is a very desirable
thing to see a man coming, like Mr. Praeger, without fear, and
giving expression to the thoughts which possess him. I was
not here last November twelve months when his paper on the
Repeat was read, but I read that paper with more interest
than any paper in the whole proceedings of the Musical
Association, aud I must say that this afternoon I have been
very much pleased indeed with the paper. I read a paper
here some time ago when Mr. Praeger gave a very vigorous
onslaught on my argument. I cannot do the same thing for
him this afternoon because I feel bound to express my agree-
ment with him almost throughout. I think the point we
ought to keep in mind is this : Is art greater than form, or is
form greater than art, or, to put it in another way, is a creed
greater than religion ? We know that the forms which exist

music you have to let your

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now had a beginning, and, according to all that seems human,
they must have an end. Of course, the question is not exactly
whether the Sonata form is thoroughly exhausted. I do not
think Mr. Praeger advances that argument, but I think the
great point he referred to was the incoherence or want of
connection between the different movements, and that seems
to have been very generally admitted. We have an Allegro
and an Andante that very often seems utterly foreign to it,
and then other movements, each charming in themselves, but
not necessarily growing out of each other, although from the
first part to the last of each individual movement, the ideas
may spring from one source. I will just tell you a little
experience of my own. Two or three months ago I brought
out a Sonata of Mr. Praeger's, and if it is proper, I will not
say to hoist the engineer with his own petard, but to make
him illustrate his own subject, I might be allowed to give a
very brief description of that Sonata. The moment I looked
through it before trying it over I saw that it was very
unusual, and the father of the young artist who played the
violoncello part when he played it said, "You will never produce
that work, it is most unaccountable, you will make nothing
of it." That was rather a bad beginning because the boy
himself did not understand it, and it prejudiced him against
it. We had a first rehearsal, and I said, " Do you understand
it " ? and he said, " Not a bit." " Well," I said, " I do not
understand it much, but let us try it." We tried it once,
twice, and three times ; we rehearsed that work more than
anything which has been rehearsed for my concerts, and by
the time we came to the concert it was my honest conviction
that in twenty years' time I believe it will be said to be a
remarkably fine work. It might not be known to anybody
present, and, therefore, I may speak freely of it. I may say
that the Leitmotiv was the method employed throughout. I
went closely through it before trying the whole thing and
found that one theme goes throughout the whole composition ;
it appears in a different guise, but it so welds the whole into
one that it seems to carry you on from movement to move-
ment, increasing the interest precisely like the three volumes
of a novel. The movements are so linked together that,
although each one is complete in itself, you feel the second
has grown out of the first, and the third has grown out of the
other two. That is my experience of Mr. Praeger's own
work. I will not say I agree to everything Mr. Praeger has
said, but it is quite true that music is the youngest and latest
of all the arts, and we cannot predict what may happen in
another 100 years. Beethoven wrote Sonatas like Mozart's at
first, but was not satisfied. To say the Sonata form will fill all
the strivings and meanings of the human heart is as much as
to say: here is a quart bottle, you must not weep any more

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Form.

once that bottle is full. In the future I believe the form w£flf
grow, but I do not think there i9 anything to fear, and no
doubt the old forms will always exist. Art is eternal ; the
material of art we do not make, we discover. Forms are
human, and therefore being human are open to gradual
change and improvement.

Mr. Stephens.— I have dwelt so largely on the subject of
form in the lecture I gave recently that it is needless for me
to recapitulate anything I said on that occasion, or to combat
any of the opinions, or signify my acquiescence in any of the
views which have been expressed. But one remarkable
statement made by Mr. Praeger, confirmed by Mr. Prout,
was that Beethoven had a notion of a certain denned purpose
in certain of his Sonatas, and amongst them was instanced
the Sonate Pathetique. Now it so happens that that was not
the authorised title at all ; it was only the publisher's title,
and when it is asserted that it bears out that title, I confess
it does not strike me as being nearly so pathetic as many
others. I am given to understand also that the Moonlight
Sonata is a misnomer altogether.

The Chairman. — At the risk of a Hibernianism, I must say
I think it is a very great misfortune that we cannot begin by
hearing the Sonata for the tenth time instead of the first. It
does not speak very well for the lucidity of a piece of music
that you are actually obliged to go over it ten times before
you can make anything of it. However, there is one thing I
can assure my friend Mr* Praeger, that I shall take the
earliest opportunity of purchasing that Sonata and see what
I can make of it. I will now ask Mr. Praeger to reply to
what has been advanced.

Mr. Praeger. — I might begin by stating that Hegel, the
great philosopher, when on his death-bed, said, " I have
never been understood : I had, indeed, one pupil who under-
stood me, but, alas! he misunderstood me." I am very sorry
that I have been misunderstood,, but misunderstood I have
been. Mr. Promt, whose opinion I value very highly, has
certainly misunderstood me, because each movement in itself
in the three great masters is as perfect as anything can be to
our notions. What I fall foul of is the unconnectedness of
the movements, and this I would change, because, if in
anything you have four different portions which have no
relation to each other, you might, for each, substitute some-
thing else, and that without marring the unity of which there
is not a trace. You have mentioned the Moonlight Sonata.
This title was given after Beethoven's death, and an irreverent
wit has remarked that there was more moonshine in it than
moonlight. Many pupils have asked me where, in the last
movement, the moonlight was. Of the three movements,
the first and last will go extremely well together, because

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of the same deep, pathetic feeling common to both, and the
passionate despair of the last is engendered by the deep
pathos of the first ; but the middle movement has nothing
in common with them, and although Liszt has asserted
that by taking it slower it will be more appropriate, still
you do not make yourself young by putting your hat on
one side. Mr. Shedlock evidently is extremely afraid that I
am going to set the Thames on fire with this question about
movements, but there is no one on earth who will assert that
he has more love for music than I, and he also has mis-
understood me. As I said, music is still in its childhood, and
yet it electrifies the world with its marvellous power. If this
child has already in its imperfect state performed such
marvellous wonders, I repeat that when it has come to its
full growth it will reach up to Heaven itself. It is the thing
which connects us more with that invisible world we all
yearn for, whatever our special creed. I have been asked
why I did not say more about Richard Wagner. It was
because people have always regarded my art opinions as
generated by Richard Wagner. I could have brought him
into the argument, but I purposely refrained. I take the
whole onus on my own shoulders. I must plead guilty to
having been so excessively nihilistic, revolutionary, and all
other things since 1834, fifty years ago, when I had the
pleasure and honour of being admitted into this country,
that I have invariably, in all my serious compositions — I
do not speak of any written for the public, those are little
things that one is, perhaps, ashamed of, they have served
their purpose, they have amused many people — but in all
my serious works, and I may tell you I have eighteen
string Quartets, many Trios, twelve grand pianoforte Sonatas,
and tutti quanti of other works, wherever there are several
movements they are all connected by Leitmotivi, so that
it cannot be said I took the initiative from Wagner ; he, on
the contrary, applauded me for my work in this direction.
It is by no means a wonderful discovery. I may honestly
say that it was a conviction with me when I was still very
young, and several very great musicians have since been
astonished at finding that anyone had thought of and
adopted it at so early a period, but I was always very
retiring in my habits, and should never have mentioned
a work of mine composed on this principle if Mr. Stratton
had not been kind enough to do so, which is the more
honourable to him as I had opposed him in his last paper.
I did not then know him personally, and when he wrote to
me, after his paper, and asked me for one of my works it was
the greatest honour that could be done to any artist. The
way in which he has spoken of me is one of those delightful
incidents that show there is, after all, something to live for

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Form.

in this world. On one occasion an old friend came to me
after hearing a piece of mine, certainly one of my earliest
works, and said, " You will get your wreath when you are
dead." " Well," I said, 44 1 am content." However, let us
do all according to our best endeavours and earnest con-
victions for this art that certainly is the holiest and the
most far-reaching in its influence on the human heart.

Votes of thanks were then passed to Mr. Praeger and to
the Chairman.

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DR. STAINER
In the Chair.

March 3, 1884.

WORDS FOR MUSIC.
By the Rev. M. E. Browne.

When the idea first occurred to me of writing a paper upon
this subject — a subject in which, for more than twenty years,
I have taken a practical interest — I put it aside, feeling that
so light and literary a subject might possibly be regarded by
some of our more scientific members as hardly worthy of the
attention of one whole monthly meeting ; and also hesitating,
as a comparatively new member, to come forward and occupy
a position which is so frequently filled by more experienced
writers, treating of more exclusively musical matters. How-
ever, in each new paper which I listened to here I recognised, as
I thought, an absence of dogmatism which clearly distinguished
the readers of our papers from lecturers or teachers; it seemed
to me that the tone of our meetings was not so much to
gather instruction from the reader of the paper as to gather
instruction from the members present, by the help of the
reader of the paper. And therefore, not in the expectation
of being able to teach anything new to anybody present here
this evening, but as one anxious that a favourite subject
should be discussed by this society, I ventured to offer this
paper to the secretary.

The subject in itself is a very wide one — so wide that I
cannot hope to treat it exhaustively. I suppose I need not
waste any time in trying to prove that words for music — i.e.,
for music worthy to be called music — must be poetry . Poetry
is, of course, not necessarily expressed in rhymed lines ; but
the Poet, in the true sense, is the Maker, who clothes his
ideas in words, just as the sculptor presents his in clay
or marble, the painter his in pictures, or the musical com-
poser his in symphonies. Poetry — I must apologize for the
platitude, but it is necessary here — poetry is an Art no less
than music ; and, speaking broadly, in any work of Art in
which poetry and music combine, the hand of the special
artist is necessary for each art. The notion that any words

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Words for Music.

are good enough to set to music is as absurd as it would be
to say that any creature with a voice of any sort is fit to
sing a song, so long as there is a first-rate orchestra to
accompany ! The words that alone are worthy of the
musical treatment of a composer must have the ring of
genuine poetry, and the composer who encourages the
twaddlers with a knack of rhyming who supply the words
for a good deal of musicseller's stock, are doing a distinct
injury to the progress of true art. Of course, all poetry is
not fit for musical treatment ; you could not " set " a play of
Shakspere, or a canto of Spencer's " Faery Queen " ; but
equally, all music is not fit for words ; you could not write a
cantata to fit one of Beethoven's symphonies (although I
believe some ingenious person has twisted one of Haydn's
sonatas into a hymn-tune !) ; clearly, there is a sphere in
which each Art has its separate and independent development
and expression ; but there is poetry which demands music for
its fullest beauty to be recognised, and there is music which
requires words to interpret its deepest meaning to the hearer's
mind ; and what I am contending for is that true art should
aim at making each worthy of the other.

I have often been struck by the extraordinary carelessness
which even experienced composers show in their selection of
words — e.g., what can one think when a popular composer
sets, and a popular vocalist sings, such stuff as this ? —

Nature cares not whence or how,

Nature knows not why,
'Tis enough that thou art thou

And that I am I !

Nature cares not whence or why,

Nature asks not how,
'Tis enough that I am I

And that thou art thou !

If a third verse had been required I suppose we should
have had something like this, to give a chance of a rhyme to
the third interrogative —

Nature cares not why or how,

Nature says not whence,
'Tis enough that I and thou

Fain would be intense I

and, unless we are to accept the disagreeable idea that when
a man has made his name, and finds that publishers will buy
any songs he brings them, he becomes careless of anything
except the manufacture of lucrative " pot boilers "—unless
we are to accept some such theory as that, I fear we are
driven to the conclusion that very few musicians have formed
any distinct idea as to what they want, or what they ought
to seek in the way of words for their music. And this finds
support in the want of appreciation of good words which we

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may observe clearly traceable in the musical setting in many
cases where a composer has been so fortunate as to secure
them. The most striking instance which occurs to me at the
moment is that of the setting of " Orpheus with his lute," by
Sullivan. Here the words, being Shakspere's, are, of course,
better than any ordinary poet could supply ; and, as it happens,
they are clearer in meaning at first reading over than some
of Shakspere's other songs. Yet the composer distinctly
shows that he has not understood them ; he has so set the
last few lines — the lines in which the whole point of the poem
lies — as not only to make nonsense of them, but actually to
make them express something quite different from what they
were intended to convey. The lines are these —

Everything that heard him play—
(Ev'n the billows of the sea)
Hung their heads when he lay by :

In sweet music is such art ! —

Killing care and grief of heart
Fall asleep — or hearing, die !

In the musical setting we have an emphatic and undeniable
full stop at the word " heart " so that the sense of the words
(according to the composer) is, 14 In sweet music is art such
as can kill care and grief of heart," and then a request to the
listener to show his appreciation of such sweet music by
" falling asleep, or dying as soon as he hears it." It would
be easy to give plenty of other instances where the meaning
of words and sentences has been treated by the composer
with sublime indifference : it is pleasanter, however, to cite a
conspicuous case of the opposite treatment, and to point out
how admirably the words have been studied by Mr. Charles
Salaman in his setting of Herrick's " I dare not ask," or
Shelley's " I arise from dreams of thee," where in each case
the poet's name is a warrant that the words were worth
studying.

What then ought to be looked for by a composer seeking
words to set ? What points ought a writer of words specially
for music chiefly to study ? The first point which I venture
to think absolutely essential may sound odd at first hearing :
there must not be too many ideas. But it does not follow that
the words are not poetry because they are clear and simple.
Lines that are weighted with too much thought, lines that
require to be read twice over before you can grasp the
writer's meaning, are unfit for music. For instance : how
many stanzas of the " In Memoriam," of Tennyson, are
unfitted for musical setting from that very cause? I take the
first I see on opening the volume —

Who murmurest in the foliaged eaves,

A song that slights the coming care,

And Autumn, laying here and there,
A fiery finger on the leaves ;

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while, to take another instance from the same author, what
lines could be more perfect for music than those of the
maiden's Song in " Elaine," each line simple in itself, but
expressing a thought clear as a drop of water — a song as
surely craving for a worthy musical setting as Elaine, as she
sang it, craved for the missing Lancelot.

Then, again, the words must be smooth and musical in
themselves ; sibilants must be avoided as much as possible ;
the relative value and force of consonants must be studied
with care and discrimination ; the choice of vowel sounds
must be thoughtful and deliberate ; in fact, throughout the
composition the necessities of the singer as well as of the
composer must be borne in mind. There are some poems
which make their own music. It was a monstrous thought
of anybody to set the " Charge of the Six Hundred " to any
music but its own. There are lines which give their own
musical description as well as any orchestral colouring
could do — e.g. —

As slopes a wild brook o'er a little stone,
Running too vehemently to break upon it.

All such words the musician should let alone. Let him also
shun the horrible cacophonies of certain eccentric writers,
led by Browning himself, who seem to fancy that verse
should be as ugly in sound and as obscure in meaning as
possible. Here is a specimen of the utterly hopeless for
musical purposes —

The year's at the Spring,
The day's at the morn,
Morning's at seven,
The hill side's dew-pearl'd ;
The lark's on the wing,
The snail's on the thorn,
God's in His heaven,
All's right with the world.

Well might a well known writer remark, as he does, on these
lines :

Oh, strong poet of the densest tympanum ! . . . was there ever such a
stuttering collocation of syllables to confound the reader, and utterly
destroy a sweet little lyric !

The same writer's lively description of Browning's poetry
so exactly hits off what words for music ought not to be that
I cannot resist quoting the passage : —

Browning, who might have led us like the Hamelin piper, has chosen the
worse part. He will be so deeply wise that he cannot express his thoughts ;
he will be so full of profundities that he requires a million of lines to express
them in ; he will leave music and melody to Swinburne ; he will leave grace
and sweetness to Tennyson ; and in fifty years' time who will read
Browning — Besant and Rice, With Harp and Crown.

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The truth is that none of the poets whose names rank
highest appear to have studied the subject of writing specially
for music at all. Just as some classical composers — Mozart,
for instance — seem to have considered any nonsense in the
way of words to be good enough to serve as lay figure for the
gorgeous draperies with which their musical genius could
clothe them ; so we observe the poet who has written his
epic, prose or verse, now and then may have condescended
to bestow on that inferior person, the tune-maker, a few
trifles from his pen, which might lend importance even to
tweedledum and tweedledee ! In fact, the sister arts have
not been more loving than other sisters often are, when they
to a great extent share the same circle of admirers.

Now there is one point which is especially important. I
have said enough to make it clear that I think the musician
who sets words to music must be half a poet himself ; but I
believe it to be equally necessary that the poet who writes
for music should be half a musician. He must have some
fairly clear notions of musical form at least ; he must adhere
to some kind of poetical form, so that while avoiding any-
thing which might hamper the composer, he may not add to
his task by any indefiniteness or incoherence in his own share
of the work. To take the simplest of all combinations of words
and music — the Song. How many poets and novelists have
written things which they called songs ? but how few of these
lyrics, comparatively, are either " settable " or 11 singable."
In almost every case where they are suitable for musical
treatment it would appear to be so more by happy chance
than as the result of deliberate study or intention. I think,
therefore, that song writing with a special view to the words
being set and sung is an art which is yet in its infancy,
and one of which the importance has not yet been fully
apprehended. It would tend to call attention to the subject,
as well as to dignify the Art, if those gentlemen who compile
the programmes and books of words for concerts would
print the author's name at the end of his words as regularly
as they do the composer's after the title of the piece.*

At present the Art of Word- writing has no recognised
canons and no acknowledged professors ; it is practised by a
noble army of amateurs, who are employed by musicians
with a critical faculty for the most part untrained, who
again are ruled with a rod of iron, or more precious metal,
by the music publishers. Now it is not as yet generally
supposed that the average music publisher is eminently fitted
to be a literary critic. The history of a successful song at
the present time is usually this : some popular singer takes a

* I have myself always made a practice of doing this ; and also of giving
the dates of both author and composer whenever the names were likely to
be at all unfamiliar.

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fancy to it, or is paid a royalty for keeping it before the
British public. The special style of music which will do
for works of this description is familiar to us all ; but my
business is with the words, and in the present state of public
taste I think we may lay down the following plan as the
safest for a writer who wishes to concoct some words that
will take the public — in the opinion of the publisher. Let
him first choose the voice of the singer — let us say a con-
tralto — and then select the special line of sentiment, joyful or
lugubrious, which the most popular possessor of that voice
succeeds best in expressing — let us say the lugubrious. He
must then in the course of his words contrive to kill some-
body (gently) — a baby is the most *' taking," but a good deal
may be done with a " young mother," and even an old
woman may be successfully treated in this style: — having
introduced the victim in the first verse, killed, it in the
second, the most popular way to conclude is to bring an
Angel to fetch it in the third ; and then if the composer will
only write his last two pages with an accompaniment of
chords in triplets, including a fortissimo passage somewhere,
and either a very high or a very low oiote to conclude, the
fortune of the song is made, when once accepted and sung
by the lady for whom it was " expressly composed."

This is really no exaggeration ; and there is nothing
poetically objectionable in that Baby and that Angel, except
that we have had so many of them ; they are as familiar as
that equally tiresome person the sentimental beggar, or the
oppressively cheerful and patriotic British tar. What I
complain of is that writers will persist in following beaten
tracks. The success of a " Laddie " instantly produces a
"Lassie," to be followed no doubt by a "Daddy" and a
"Granny,"* a " Mammie " and an "Auntie," &c, till the
whole list of affectionate diminutives is exhausted. They
write what they know from experience the publishers
will like — they will not bravely appeal to the public
and write what an improving public taste will come
to appreciate. There is plenty of excuse to be made, no
doubt, but from the standpoint that word writing is an Art,
and ought to be felt and acknowledged as such, I think the
fact is to be lamented, and the practice altered as soon as
may be. I would especially press the point that in songs,
as in every other branch of art, success with the public is no
true gauge of real artistic merit. A writer who writes for
commercial and popular success cannot be ranked as a Poet
with whom art is a master who forces him to fulfil himself,
and speak in his own voice, in spite of publishers and public

* I am amused to find that since this paper was read a " Daddy " and a
H Great Grandmother" have actually been added to the musical family.

M. E. B.

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alike ; who feels that he can only draw the public to himself
by lifting them up to his heart, not by stooping down for them
to embrace him. Till we have an acknowledged English
song-literature, such as exists in German, I fear the song in
English music will remain a crude and undeveloped form —
the dread of the boarding-school music master, the blessing
of the publisher, and an ingenious engine of torture for those
who have to endure " evenings at home."

In all vocal music I think the words should show some
reason why they should be sung — it is difficult to express
exactly what I mean in the case of songs, but perhaps
it will be better understood under the head of duets
and trios. Why should the two, or the three voices,
be singing together ? I think there should be some-
thing in the words to explain this — e.g., how could the
words " Oh, that we two were Maying " be set more
appropriately than as a duet? While I confess that the
setting of such words as " I would that my love," or " Oh
wert thou in the cauld blast," as vocal duets, has always
seemed to me a mistake ; there is nothing in the music
especially suited for those words, and I have often ventured
to think that Mendelssohn might have found some words
better suited for that music if he wished to treat those themes
as duets for female voices. This is, I admit, a theory which
it would not do to press too far. But there is a touch of the
dramatic in the situation directly you begin to make two or
more voices sing together, and there should, at all events, be
nothing in the words to render a dramatic situation impossible.
It must be remembered that I argue from the point of view of
the word writer ; of course, if musicians choose to take any
words they fancy, and set them as duets, trios, or quartets,
they can do so: what I mean is that the writer of words
should have his own intention as to the use to be made of
them, and write words for a duet, for a trio, for a song, or
for a quartet expressly, so that it would be hard for the
musician to set them as anything except that for which they
were intended. By way of illustration I would remind those
who are familiar with Hatton's quartets for male voices, of
the excellent choice which he made in selecting the words
called " The Happiest Land " ; while such words as he has
taken for " The Letter," or " Shall I wasting in despair," seem
to me entirely unsuitable, suggesting a dramatic situation
utterly impossible, four men all uttering the same sentiment
in the first person singular at exactly the same moment — yet
not as a chorus.

But the mention of words for concerted music obliges me
to hurry on to a further branch of the subject — the simplest
form of work which combines words for solo and concerted
singers — i.e., the Ode or Cantata. The former name has

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fallen into disuse ; I can hardly say why, for it expressed a
distinct form of poem, while "Cantata" does not ; "Cantata"
is one of the many barbarisms of musical nomenclature.
According to the analogy of the word " Sonata" it ought to
mean simply a work for the voice, as distinct from a work for
the instrument, but in reality it embraces a good many forms
of work : everything, in fact, which in sacred music is too
short for an Oratorio, or in secular music is too undramatic
for an Opera, is called a " Cantata." We have them of all
kinds, dramatic, undramatic, sacred, secular, for one voice and
chorus, or for more, or for chorus only. Here, again, we are
face to face with the difficulty which I have already alluded
to — viz., that there are no canons of the art of word writing.
There is no classical form, and every man scribbles that
which is right in his own eyes, or, if he is a composer, some-
times takes a poem never meant for music at all, and chops
it up into little bits, which he doles out to his soloists and
chorus as suits his fancy, and then he calls the result a
Cantata! "The Ancient Mariner" has been so treated.
Marvellous to say, the poem has survived ; and still more
marvellous, the music has triumphed over the monotony of
the rhythm and the unsuitable form of the poem for such
treatment. I can forgive the artistic blunder for the sake of
the music which Mr. Barnett wrote (only I hope he won't do
it again). But, fired by the force of evil example, somebody
else has done the same thing to Gray's " Elegy " ! Why, the
" Agony Column " of the Times would be more suitable for
the purpose ! I think myself that it is most difficult to
write good words for a Cantata ; the writer has to do without
the dramatic aids which he has at his command in writing an
Opera; nor has he the storehouse of authorised ideas and
other resources on which he may draw to help him through
the toils of an Oratorio. He must not be so dramatic as to
suggest that "this would do upon the stage," nor so un-
dramatic as to make the background of a stage in dreamland
impossible to the mind of the composer, or even to that of the
audience.

Probably one of the best specimens of a dramatic Cantata
(words, I mean) is the late Mr. Chorley's " May Queen," and
another good one is "St. Cecilia " from the same pen, but
in each there was a little too much suggestion of stage action
for the work to be pronounced a perfect specimen. I look
upon the words of Mendelssohn's " Lobgesang" as one of the
most perfect "books" for a Cantata. Hiller's "Song of
Victory " and Schubert's " Song of Miriam " are both good
in form, but in English of course suffer from translation.
M The Bride of Dunkerron," in my opinion, is too dramatic in
its present form : read without the " Argument " the story
is hard to follow; while after reading the argument it is

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•clear that links of dialogue, or description, are required to
connect the musical numbers. I have named these few
.thoroughly familiar works in illustration of what I, rightly
or wrongly I do not presume to decide, consider to be the
unsatisfactory state of indefmiteness in which the ode or
cantata for music remains at present. I have tested the
difficulty of writing a work of this class myself, and while I
feel it to be one of the hardest forms for a librettist to
work in, I think my experience has taught me that there
is much yet to be done in that form. [As I have criticised
others it is but fair that I should lay myself open to
criticism. By the kindness of Messrs. Weekes & Co., I
am enabled to lay upon the table some copies of the book
of words of a short Cantata for female voices — " Sisera " —
which I lately wrote for Mr. De Solla, and which has
been successfuly performed by the Guildhall School of
Music]

The form of the Cantata leads us on to the more important,
if somewhat more circumscribed form, the " Oratorio." And
here it is where I think the greatest carelessness has been
shown by compilers of words. Because the Bible has been
regarded as the great storehouse of Oratorio subjects, and
because the sacred words are like a mine of precious stones
free and open to all, improvident hands have greedily
clutched the gems right and left and scattered them all
unsorted and uncut into the lap of the composer. Any words
out of the Bible have been deemed fit for any Oratorio
subject. Suppose the subject were " Adam and Eve " ; the
average librettist would think nothing of peppering his pages
w r ith texts from the Gospels or Epistles, if they happened to
fit his ideas, and the Psalms would infallibly be pressed into
the service : the mention of the coats of skins of wild beasts
(in a recitative) would probably be followed by a chorus on
the words " The lions do lack and suffer hunger," &c, while
after a solo by Adam, " The woman whom Thou gavest to
be with me," &c, we should probably have a quartet of
Angels on the words, " A man shall forsake father and mother
and cleave unto his wife " ! Of course this sounds extremely
irreverent ; but in my opinion many Oratorio books are ex-
tremely irreverent, and I wish by that caricature to draw
attention to the fact. I cannot here go into detail ; for I
should have to mention the works of living writers and
composers, in whose minds I feel sure there was no thought
of irreverence ; but I will give one instance of the kind of
thing I mean, and I will take it from a work which, with its
composer, is now beyond criticism from a musical point of
view, both being acknowledged as great. I mean Sir G.
Macfarren's King David ; where the words for the final
chorus are taken from the Doxology. I judge this to be a

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mistake, and I go no further than my own feelings when I
read the work through. I shall always remember with
pleasure one evening which I spent quietly reading through
the pianoforte score of that admirable work. From the
first notes of the overture I had before me the back ground
of eastern scenery — the tabernacle and its primitive worship —
the hot eastern sun on the bare hills of Judaea — the barbaric
sights and sounds of ancient war — the wild demon strati veness
of Oriental triumph or grief. But then twice in the Oratorio
all this was blotted out, not by the music, but by the words.
I came upon a piece of the Anglican Litany and the
Doxology of the Christian Church ! In an instant my
vision of Judaea was gone; with the words of the Litany
I was transported from the battered tabernacle to the
modern English Church, while at the finale the Doxology
carried me no nearer to Judaea than Byzantium, Alexandria,,
or Rome. Here I venture to think is a distinct artistic
slip on the part of the arranger of the words ; even if I
may not go a little further and deprecate the use of words
which have such associations as the Doxology, as a peg
on which to hang those musical tangles which are regarded
conventionally as necessary in the final chorus of a great
Oratorio.

But I have digressed, in illustration, before laying down any
clear lines on which I think the Oratorio book should be con-
structed. The Oratorio proper is a step onward from the
Cantata towards the stage. The dramatic element is more
distinctly admissible, but it must not be more than dramatically
suggestive ; there must be no scent of the footlights. Instead
of the plain baize screen of Shakspere's day, we may picture
the sculptured organ screen of the Cathedral as the background
for the drama to be represented. The low passions and
highly wrought emotions of a drama for acting must be
subdued and toned down, and characters and sentiments,
rather than the living exponents of them, should give the
impetus to the word- writer's pen.

I have already said that I think too free a use has been
made of the actual words of Scripture. In such a book as that
of the "Messiah," of course nothing could be so appropriate
as the actual words, but even there the student of the Bible
detects anachronisms and false readings in the use of certain
passages which jar on the theologian even while the musical
result disarms the critic ; but the subject there is exceptional.
As a rule, I hold it to be safer and more artistic in every way
for the librettist to write his own words — paraphrasing the
Bible texts in verse, where he wishes to introduce the actual
words at all. If the actual words are used, I should confine
their use to recitative (narrative or descriptive), and in ex-
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solo voices representing Angels or characters not dramatically
concerned in the progress of the story. As a rule, I should
prefer all narrative to be written in blank verse founded on
passages of Scripture where possible, and all solos and
choruses in original poetry. I recognise a praiseworthy
attempt in this direction in the late Arthur Matthison's
Scriptural Idyll " Rebekah," so charmingly set by Mr.
Barnby— although, of course, it falls far below the dignity
of an Oratorio.

May I be allowed one word more on the subject of the
Finale to an Oratorio. I have already criticised the use of
the words of the Doxology for this purpose, but I do not think
I feel much more kindly disposed towards the conventional
" Hallelujah, Amen." These two luckless words have
suffered many things ; they have been tacked on to the tail
end of countless books of words merely to give the composer
the chance of showing that he could write a fugue. Regard-
less of meaning or accent — of the fact that one of them is
bastard Hebrew and the other mispronounced Greek — the
musical world has accepted them as the climax of human
praise, and as vocalising the highest and most complicated
efforts of most laborious composers. I am not criticising the
composers; if a man can be inspired to genuine musical ideas,
even by " that blessed word ' Mesopotamia ' " — Mesopotamia
let it be ; but let him be his own librettist : let every
true writer of words for music decline to write down
" Mesopotamia " for him, or " Hallelujah, Amen," or
" Anathema Maranatha," or anything else which involves
absurdity, scholastic blunders, or utter nonsense; if his
composer wants anything of that sort let him be content
with Do, re j mi, fa I

Briefly, then, I think the words of an Oratorio should be
an original poem rather than a jumble of texts ; and there
is one Oratorio with a libretto the acknowledged beauty of
which goes far to prove the point — Crotch's 44 Palestine."
The " book " for this Oratorio is composed of passages
selected from Heber's Oxford Prize Poem, " Palestine," and
is the nearest approach to an original poem specially written
for setting as an Oratorio which exists. Handel's "Samson,"
of course, contains passages of beauty, adapted from Milton's
poem, but the powerand dignity of Milton's lines are marred
by many rhymed stanzas of a very feeble type of versification.
I must admit that in " Palestine " the last chorus is written
on our old friends, "Hallelujah, Amen." But Heber did
not write them at the end of his poem, and surely what he
did write was good enough to inspire any, even the greatest
of musicians. As a specimen of this work listen to the
concluding lines (set in the Oratorio as Sestet, Recitative,
and Chorus) : —

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Sestet. Lo ! cherub bands the golden courts prepare,
Lo ! thrones arise, and every saint is there ;
Earth's utmost bounds confess their awful sway,
The mountains worship, and the isles obey:
Nor sun nor moon they need, nor day nor night,
God is their temple and the Lamb their light.
Recit. And shall not Israel's sons exulting come,

Hail the glad beam, and claim their ancient home ?
On David's throne shall David's offspring reign,
And the dry bones be warm with life again.

Solo & Hark! white robed crowds their deep Hosannas raise,
Chorus. And the hoarse flood repeats the sound of praise;
Ten thousand harps attune the mystic song,
Ten thousand thousand Saints the strain prolong ;
" Worthy the Lamb ! Omnipotent to save,
44 Who died, who lives, triumphant o'er the grave."

But time forbids me to linger further on the very interesting
topic of Oratorio words, for there still waits the one step
further which brings us to the stage — i.e., the English Opera
stage. For the purposes of this paper I must reluctantly
distinguish at once between English Opera and Opera in
English ; for the subject of translations and adaptations of
foreign Operas into an English form of words would occupy
too much time, and is in itself almost sufficient to form a
short and extremely entertaining paper. I had collected
some specimens of "English versions" which would have
both amused and amazed those who have not examined
many of those extraordinary performances ; but the subject
of English Opera itself — i.e., of original English books of
words for original music, is quite sufficient for the space
which remains. Nor can I afford to waste time in repeating
the hackneyed scoffs at the " poet Bunn " and his successor,
Edward Fitzball. I merely mention those names to point
out that whatever may be thought of their verses, their
names demand the respect which is due to all pioneers; if
ever English Opera does take, as I feel sure it will, a firm
place in English musical history, it will have to own its
indebtedness to the writers of the " Bohemian Girl " and
" Maritana,' 1 no less than to the more refined author of " Robin
Hood " or the " Lily of Killarney." Hitherto all English Opera
that is really familiar to the public has been framed on the
French type, which admits spoken dialogue. This I conceive
to be entirely wrong. Directly the speaking voice is used
the audience is reminded of the absurdity of having any
part of the piece sung at all ; but if the whole poem be
presented with a musical as well as a pictorial and a dramatic
setting, there is nothing necessarily more absurd in the musical
presentation of it than in the dramatic or pictorial; the
audience abandon themselves to the illusion, and it is no
harder to " make believe " in one direction than in another.
Let us, however, grant the existence of Opera : What is the
line on which an English Opera book should be built ?

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Clearly in this, the highest form in which music and words
can be combined, there is one qualification required in the
word-writer which is not required for Song, Cantata, or
Oratorio — i.e., knowledge of the stage, its necessities and its
possibilities, and I fear I must add, knowledge of the
dramatic singer and his and her traditional fancies and
peculiarities ; for these latter are an element which, though
it may not influence the composer particularly, will certainly
largely influence the manager to whom the work is submitted
for production. However, while taking this factor into con-
sideration, no true poet would for a moment allow it to
influence him to the extent of damaging the work from a
literary or musical point of view. No doubt each character
necessary to the work should be developed so that its exponent
may have good and interesting work to do in the performance
of the Opera, so that thus competent artists may be tempted to
undertake the part ; but no librettist who can afford to assert
his own dignity should listen to the importunities of a prima
donna who begs for another song to be put into her part
(where it is not wanted), or the insinuations of the stout
basso, who buttonholes him at each rehearsal with the mys-
terious desire for " a bit more fat somewhere!"

But even librettists cannot always soar above questions of
worldly prudence. To produce an Opera is expensive at the
best of times, and the poet whose ideas cannot be translated
to the public without many elaborate set scenes and frequent
changes, is not one to attract any composer who is in a hurry
to see his work put upon the stage. Therefore, if possible,
the story should be so contrived that one set scene should
suffice for each act : it should always be borne in mind that an
opera differs from a drama in this, that its raison d'etre is Music.
Scenery, action, words, and form of dramatic poem exist
only that the musical work may be properly understood and
appreciated ; and, therefore, the contriver of the poem should
arrange for all that is necessary to that end, as perfect and
attractive as he pleases, but not be lavish of tinsel and lime-
lights as though he were prescribing for the patients at the
Alhambra.

I hold that an Opera book should be a dramatic poem of
varied rhythms. The action, whether set as recitative, or
declamation, or what not, written mainly in blank verse, so as
to fetter the composer as little as possible with the shackles
of metre and rhyme. The progress of dramatic action always
leads to some points where action becomes stationary, leaving
a single emotion prominent — joy, grief, anxiety, awakened
memory, and so on. These are the points, and the only points,
J think, where actual songs are admissible. Here you may
give your composer and singer a chance which they may use
according to the composer's own theories of Opera music ;

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but to carry on the action of the story through a piece of
pure melody, such as the Cavatina of the Donizettian school,
seems to me thoroughly bad art. Duets, trios, &c, being, as
I have already remarked, more essentially dramatic, may be
used less scrupulously— how naturally the "Spinning
Wheel" Quartet falls into the story in "Martha"; or the
" Duel " Trio in " Faust " ; or, to take an instance from an
English opera, the hackneyed but always pleasing duet in
"The Lily of Killarney," "The moon hath raised." But
the librettist must not give his composer the chance 01
bringing the active or purely dramatic part of the work into
collision with the reflective or illustrative portions, of which
he and his singers will want a sufficient allowance. So with
words for the chorus. If the chorus is on the stage in action
let him give them either blank verse or verse of some metre
suited to the prevailing sentiment of the scene ; but if they
are there passively filling the scene as part of the picture, or
joining in the expression of any one decided sentiment or
emotion, then let their words be as genuine an ode as the
pen can supply. When the play of emotions on the stage is
rapid and excited, let the lines of the poem be short ; let the
chorus be made to speak in groups, and the lines be broken
up among them. It is ridiculous, even in Opera, for crowds
to be unanimous in uttering ten-syllabled lines in rhyme!
In concerted pieces, where several characters have to be
expressing various sentiments at the same time, a common
trick has been to make the rhymes of all the lines agree.
Let me give you a specimen (pray do not suppose that I offer
you this gem of poetry as a model !) from an English Opera
of Balfe's, which was never performed except in a shortened
form by the German Reeds —

Tenor. — In the wars I'll take my chance,
Wear thy colours, fair deceiver,
Every time I couch my lance,
Down shall go an unbeliever !

Soprano[(asidc). — There is not the slightest chance

Of the death of unbeliever,
Hotspur, from thy vengeful lance ;
Or I am a fair deceiver !

Contralto. — Stay thee for the song and dance,
Rashness is the worst deceiver,
Brave men never prate of chance ;
For thine own sake still believe her !

This uniformity of rhyme is a harmless exercise of
ingenuity, and has the advantage of not confusing the
listener's ear with a variety of vowel sounds if the musical
rhythm of each vocal part corresponds — Le. t if in the com-
position each line-ending of words comes in the same place ;
but as this very rarely happens — operatic concerted pieces

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not being constructed in the form of hymn-tunes— I believe
the librettist's ingenuity is wasted. At all events, to insist
on this uniformity of rhyme would be very needless. Rhyme
is only a trick after all, and no modern librettist is likely to
equal in cleverness the author of " Hudibras " or of the
" Ingoldsby Legends." I believe, myself, that before the
librettist attempts to write the actual words of a great con-
certed piece or finale, he should confer with the composer,
explain clearly the dramatic situation, the various characters
and groups on the stage, and so on ; and then write no words
till he receives from the composer short sketches of the
musical thoughts or subjects on which such a finale will be
built up. Guided by these, he will be able to select his
metres and write the actual lines to be sung far more
efficiently than if he scribbled on quite in the dark as to the
composer's dreams of the musical structure. In fact, in music
as in matrimony, " two cannot walk together except they
agree." Librettist and composer cannot work apart if an
English Opera worthy of the name of a work of art is to be
the result of their labours. Let them marry their ideas at
once, if possible ; if not, let their courtship at all events be a
genuine one ! I take it that when the complete work comes
before the world, the proof that it is one will be this : the
librettist will be recognised as translating the composer's
meaning to the many — the musician as the exponent of the
poet's thoughts to the few. The librettist, the guide who
shows the new country to the travelling artist ; the composer,
that artist who paints the country so revealed to him, for the
public to admire.

Before concluding this necessarily very hasty review of
this subject, let me ask whether some fresh form of com-
bining words and music might not be found. You will see
clearly from what I have said that I plead for the recognition
of the word-writer as a specialist — of words for music, as a
distinct line of work, worthy of being taken up in earnest
by those who have the power and the time, for it is work
which must be allowed time; words "dashed off" are rarely
good for much. But why need he write the complete
work for musical exposition alone ? Another new profession
is rapidly springing up — that of the Reciter. Why should
not a work be cast in such a form as to demand the
services of a Reciter, just as the Cantata generally requires
one or more solo singers ? Of course, everyone will at once
think of the performances to which most of us have listened,
of Mendelssohn's music to " Athalie," or to the " Antigone "
or M CEdipus," with the lines of the tragedies read or recited
at the same time. But I do not contemplate any such hybrid
arrangement as that ; those works were meant to be done on
the stage (the " Antigone " actually was done at the Crystal

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Palace), and the reader or reciter is simply an inadequate
substitute for the stage performance. In the form of work
which I am suggesting, the model of the Greek drama would
be exactly reversed. The Reciter would act the part which
there fell to the Chorus — the passive, contemplative, and
undramatic part — while the actual progress of the poem
would be carried on by the musical portion, with its soloists
and chorus. I am not, of course, prepared to name a
specimen of a class of work which does not exist, nor can I
plead guilty to having tried the experiment of writing such a
work ; but I believe it could be done, and that the result
would be novel and attractive. I am not even prepared
with a name for a work of such a kind ; it would not be a
" Cantata" certainly, and I am afraid the author would have to
invent some such name as "Poemelode," or "Melopoem "* —
(and why not "Melopoem" as well as "Melodrama"?) — to
indicate that equal attention is claimed by words and music,
and that the recited lines assert their importance as poetry
no less than the orchestral and vocal score as music.

To sum up, it is in the perfected union of the two Arts that I
believe we should recognise the law which ought to guide us
in every work for words and music, from the simplest ballad
to the grandest opera: a law founded on the mysterious
power which we trace throughout the universe resulting
from every union of two spirits in one life; a law which,
guiding the combined labour of poet and musician, will
charm as the thrilling dual note of some strange organ-stop,
and mark their united work as the worthy utterance of a
human voice — the Vox Humana in the great organ of nature
by which God is ever speaking to the soul of man.

DISCUSSION.

The Chairman. — I am sure, ladies and gentlemen, you will
join me in heartily thanking Mr. Browne for his very admirable
paper. I have had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Browne for
many years, since the days when he was walking about in his
undergraduate's gown in Oxford, and I can vouch for his
being a practical musician ; in fact, you can gather that from
the way in which the paper has been put together. The
subject is one of very great interest. He is a hard hitter, I
think, and, though I cannot say I am very fond of all Mr.
Browning's poetry, I think we shall have to recognise in
poetry, as we do in music, a series of fashions. No doubt Mr.
Browning is a noble representative of the reaction against

* A friend suggests " Melologue," a word already used by T. Moore, but
in another sense.

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jingle just in the same way as some composers are very proud
of being formless in order to protest against the regular cut
and dried slices of music ; so, you want a poet who tries to
avoid what would be the smooth-running rhymes of the
previous generation. No doubt when people have had a few
centuries of Browning they will get very tired of it, and when
somebody brings forth the old poet Tennyson, as he will be
then, the people of that day will be very much pleased with
his works. I do not profess to be a composer, I have neither
the time nor the talent, but when I do try I have the greatest
possible difficulty to find suitable words. I have drawers
full of them sent me by kind friends, but I find there
is always some reason why they will not quite do. When a
man is asked to write words, he seems to feel that it is his
bounden duty to descend from anything like a point of
common sense to what he supposes the level of that foolish
creature, the musical composer, and the consequence is, as a
rule, composers get the very worst efforts of poets. I rather
hoped Mr. Browne was going to touch on some other things
in addition to those he mentioned. As a church musician I
am rather interested in the subject of hymns. Some people
are very fond of making violent attacks on modern hymn
tunes, but I am bound to say they are generally as good as
the words, if not better. Composers are not at all responsible
for the namby pamby style of hymn tunes, but it arises from
the fashion of theological or sentimental thought which
cropped up about a quarter of a century ago, which made
translations of the Latin hymns of the middle ages of a
character which I think of doubtful value very fashionable,
and then they ask musicians to set them to music. The
musician reads these words over, and, finding them very
sentimental (if I may use the word without irreverence), puts
a tune to them of the same sort. If he had set an old-fashioned
English tune to any of these translations he would have been
simply making himself absurd. There is also a great want of
words for anthems. The old days when people could readily sit
down and write scores of anthems to these beautiful words,.
" Bless my soul," or " God bless me," or " Praise the Lord,"
are passed. We now want people who, being perfectly
familiar with the Bible, can choose picturesque sets of words
which represent some moral lesson, and represent them in a
pleasing form. It has long been on my mind that a society
for encouraging writers of libretto would be very valuable.
If we could get 100 people interested to subscribe a guinea a
year each, and give four prizes of twenty-five guineas, or two
of fifty guineas, so as to make it worth while for a man to
deliberately set aside time to write words, I am sure it would
have a good result. It might be done without hampering the
author in any way, as he might sell the words afterwards. If

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Words for Music,

composers wished it, the society could keep these compositions
in a cupboard, and give the key to a composer and let him
see them and select anything he liked. If such a society
went on working for five or ten years creating a litera-
ture of that sort, though only one or two really good works
were turned out they would be of the greatest value. I
know my friend Dr. Sullivan, who gets so much found fault
with for not rising to a larger Opera — and I am one who has
found fault w T ith him about it — has said over and over again,
" Give me a book and I will write an Opera." Of course, I
cannot answer that. He says he cannot get a good libretto,
and, therefore, the matter must drop. If anybody should at
any time start such a society I should be only too delighted
to throw in my lot with it.

Mr. W. H. Cummings. — I should be very pleased to second
the vote of thanks ; at the same time, I would say a few words
on the questions which have been raised, though I have not
made notes of the lecture, and it is somewhat difficult to
remember the points, and the sequence of ideas. One thing
struck me about the use of the word Cantata, which is very
modern indeed. Beethoven's solo composition, " Adelaida,"
was called a Cantata, and quite rightly, composers up to
his period never called a work of many parts a Cantata, it
is quite a modern innovation, and there would be no difficulty
in going back to the word " Ode " if we wished it. I, too,
would very mildly protest against a fugue being considered
a musical tangle, I do not think that is the right description
of a fugue. It is true the fugues that any of us in this
room might write might possibly be musical tangles, but I
can find fugues which deserve a better denomination than
that, I could mention several in the forty-eight of Bach,
particularly those in E and C sharp minor ; therefore, I think
we must not dogmatize too closely about the use of the
fugue in Oratorios, or in other works, excepting always
Gray's " Elegy." Then, again, as to the use of words, I
think Englishmen have been able to find many fine words
which they have been able to set successfully as song writers,
but there is one difficulty which crops up constantly. To
put it in a brief form, take Longfellow's poems which are
not copyright here, they are exquisitely musical, and have
enough poetry in them, and enough fine work to be above
the heads of the commonalty, just enough to lift the people
up to them, and no poems have ever been so often set to
music as those. Why? Not only because they are good,
but for the reason that all composers can take them without
a fee. Now, if you want to take the words of Tennyson
(not the sole right to use them), but if you print four lines of
Tennyson you have to pay a fee of five guineas. Now com-
posers do not always, even when they write good things, sell

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above one hundred copies, and five guineas does not so
readily come back. That is one reason why composers do
not select from the best poets of the day. Of course, we
have had splendid instances of poems well set as Odes,
and the mind at once recurs to "Alexander's Feast,"
that magnificent Ode set by Handel. I may say, as an
apology for him for the mistakes he may have made in
setting the " Messiah," in some of the Fugues referred to,
and in " All we like sheep," that he was not perfectly con-
versant with the English language, he was not thoroughly
an Englishman in his knowledge of the tongue, and, there-
fore, we may make some excuse for him when he fails
occasionally in the thought or the accent. One thing strikes
me, as a musician, which is, that I cannot fall in with the
idea that ten people may not express the same feeling at
the same moment. I think we have instances in Beethoven's
splendid Opera of " Fidelio," where the chorus all utter
the same sentiment at the same moment, they speak at
the same time. Then take the "St. Paul" of Mendelssohn,
where they all sing at the same moment "Stone him to
death." I cannot even conceive the difficulty of four people,
if necessary, singing the words " I would that my love"
at the same time ; why should they not all be moved at
the same moment with the same thought ? Of course, there
are some words w T hich do not apparently lend themselves
thoroughly to the music in that sense, as in the case of
Horsley's beautiful glee " By Celia's arbour." In other cases
I do not think it matters if five, ten, or a thousand people
express the same sentiment at the same moment. Again, I
do not think it should be laid down as an absolute law that
music must inevitably and always have nothing but music for
dialogue, take Beethoven's Opera "Fidelio"; if you hear that
in Italian, with a recitative interspersed, it becomes weari-
some and tedious, but if you hear it in German, with the
spoken dialogue, it is most charming and delightful. That is
a strong instance to the contrary. Again, if we are to have a
new form of Cantata or Ode, mixing up speaking, music and
singing, surely that is the very thing we were just now told
was wrong in the Opera. It seems to me that to lay down
hard and fast laws is a mistake. I believe the majority of
composers, who are worthy of the name, are just as well able
to judge of good poetry as most people, but the difficulty is to
find it at a reasonable cost. It is a very difficult thing to
get good poetry, and when you do find it very often the price
is too high, and you dare not venture to set it to music.

Mr. G. A. Osborne. — I should just like to mention a
little anecdote about Berlioz. I was with him in Paris.
I think it was the first time he had ever heard a fugue in
an Oratorio on the word " Amen," and he turned round to

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me and said, " My goodness, notice the effect this produces
on me." I said, 44 What effect does it produce ?" He said,.
" It seems to me they are all gargling their throats." I men-
tion that as a very forcible expression of his, and I candidly
confess that, much as I like to hear a fugue with the orchestra,
that a vocal fugue, such as we have, and so lengthy upon
that word "Amen," appears to me very absurd at times.

Mr. W. H. Cummings. — May I mention an anecdote too ?
I can very well remember at the Handel Festival when we
performed the " Messiah," and arrived at the last Amen
Chorus, I was sitting next to Costa, and he whispered to me,
" Now, this is the most magnificent thing ever written," and
I agreed with him.

Mr. Vincent. — It seems to me if a fugue is necessary in
Oratorio it is much better to have a fugue on some small
sentence like Hallelujah or Amen than on a long sentence in
which the words would jumble as they come in.

Mr. W. H. Cummings. — Nobody said it was necessary.

The Chairman. — It seems to me when we get on to the
subject of fugue that it is very important to consider what
language it is in. There is no doubt about it that long
passages of that character to one word are not really suited
to the English language. I am one of those who revel in the
pure vocal skill of the Italian writers, and I have tried over
and over again if I could not possibly do some of those
vocal fugues with my own choir, which would sing them very
well in the Latin, but they are not at all suited to English
words. For instance, if I take that magnificent motett by
Leo, if I set that to English, 44 Thou art a priest for ever

after the or der," the boys stop after about

the first page, and begin laughing, but if they sing that in
Latin no one is ever in the least disposed to laugh. I believe
we must recognise that the music must be suitable to the
language. There was a little child once taken to hear the
" Messiah," and when she came home she asked her mother
why all the people stuttered so, because they all said 44 For
unto us a child is bor n."

Mr. Browne. — As to the hymns which Dr. Stainer alluded
to, I left them out purposely, for I thought if I once got let
loose on hymns I should run so wild that I should never be
brought back again. I look on the modern hymn as the
lowest depth to which word writing can fall, always excepting,
of course, the comic song. The idea of writing original words^
for church anthems strikes me as perfectly new. It never
occurred to me for I did not know the old store was
exhausted. I have been for the last year and a half out of the
way of coming across anthems, and must be forgiven for
omitting that part of the subject. As to a society for word-
writers with their cupboard for composers to examine, it is a

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93

very good idea, but I think the necessity is that the com-
posers and the word writers should know each other. Dr.
Stainer says that Dr. Sullivan says, ** Give me a book and I
will write an Opera." I do not think it will at all follow that
if you give Dr. Sullivan his book he would write an Opera.
You have seen what he can do with Operas of a certain class,
having met with a particular mind that suits his in that class.
Let him meet a mind that suits his for higher class work,
and then he will be able to get his book. Mr. Cummings
must have misunderstood me, I did not identify the fugue
with musical tangle ; I have too much respect for fugues
to have called them by such a hard name as that ; I only
objected to a chorus uttering the same sentiment in eight or
ten syllable lines, and Mr. Cummings illustrated that very
point in quoting the chorus, " Stone him to death " ; I spoke
of breaking up the chorus into as many short sentences as
possible, and then the unanimity does not strike you as
absurd, but you know crowds are not unanimous in uttering
their sentences for more than a short period, especially if
they have to speak in the same grammar and the same
rhymes. As to the mixture of speaking and singing, I
maintained it was only wrong on the stage. Of course, with a
Cantata you wish to keep the stage out of sight, but even
" Fidelio " does not convert me. You say when it is per-
formed with the Italian recitative it is one thing, and with
the original spoken dialogue it is another; but Beethoven
did not write those recitatives, unless I am very much
mistaken, they are patched into the work, and, therefore, it is
not a fair instance. Then it was written by him when he
did not contemplate Grand Opera, which consists entirely
of singing from beginning to end, which did not exist in his
day; it was an advance on the Opera of the time, and,
therefore, I do not think that " Fidelio " can be quoted as
an instance.

Mr. W. H. Cummings. — It did exist at that time, in
Mozart's " Don Giovanni."

Mr. Browne. — Were not the recitatives in "Don Giovanni"
composed afterwards ?

Mr. W. H. Cummings. — I think not.

Mr. Browne. — Then I must cry " Peccavi," I thought
they were. The anecdote of Berlioz reminds me of
another effect produced, though not on a musical mind, by
one chorus with imitation in it. A member of a choral
society took a friend in to hear the practice; they were
doing " Oh, for the wings of a dove," and they had got on to
the last chorus. The visitor said to his friend, " My goodness,
what are they singing about, forty winks ; are they all
going to sleep ? "

I do not think there is anything else I have to answer.

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I am much obliged to the Society for the kind way in which
they have received the paper.

The Chairman. — I should like to ask Mr. Browne what he
understands the meaning of the word " Melodrama " to be ?

Mr. Browne. — Do you mean what I think it ought to mean,
or what it does mean ?

The Chairman. — What is the real meaning of it ?

Mr. Browne.— If I were to give a meaning of my own to
the word, I should say, Where plain rich musical accom-
paniments are used to intensify the sentiments at certain
points; but that would not be at all the proper definition
of w T hat at present obtains.

The Chairman. — It is a question I should very much like
to hear discussed. It is evident it ought to mean a drama
with music interspersed, but it does not mean that.

Major Crawford. — I think if you look at the score of
Weber's " Preciosa," there the word "melodrama" is used
to express that very portion where music is used to intensify
the meaning of the words.

Mr. Shedlock. — If my memory does not fail me, I believe
Benda's two works, " Ariadne" and " Medea," are spoken of
as melodramas or duodramas, and there the music was
interspersed, to give intensity to the words. It was that form
which Mozart was so taken with that he imitated it ; in fact,
he did once commence a work of that kind which was not
finished.

Mr. Browne. — There are in several of Gluck's Operas
pieces called 44 Melodrame " for orchestra only, to accompany
action of various kinds.

The Chairman. — That proves the modern use of the word
for a sensational piece is quite wrong.

Mr. W. H. Cummings. — I think it was frequently used for
a mixture of speaking and singing with music ; what are
called Operas were frequently called melodramas. It is now
generally confined to a sensational sort of piece, combining
comedy with a certain amount of pathos.

Mr. G. A. Osborne. — I think in most of the modern
comedies, when you cease speaking there are a few dozen
bars of music which are descriptive of something that has
already been said or sung, or anticipate what is to come.

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April 7, 1884

EBENEZER PROUT, Esq.,
In the Chair.

THE MALTREATMENT OF MUSIC.
By J. S. Shedlock, Esq., B.A.

The maltreatment of music is unfortunately a matter of daily
experience. With schoolboys and schoolgirls it is the rule
rather than the exception. This is not surprising, for many
young people are forced to learn against their will; they
make no effort to play well, on the contrary, indeed, will
often strike wrong notes to annoy or exasperate the teacher.
And even if we only consider those who are striving to
improve and to please their instructors, we still find that
imperfect mechanism and partially developed intelligence
prevent them from doing proper justice to the works which
they are studying. And when, in addition to the ignorance,
indolence, and waywardness of children, we find correspond-
ing defects in the teachers, the schoolroom becomes, for the
time, a true chamber of horrors. The science of education
is progressing, and happily it is becoming more and more
difficult for people to earn a living, or add to their incomes,
by professing an art for which they are utterly incompetent.
With improved instruction the faults of the young will at any
rate diminish ; but we must, I suppose, always expect to meet
with imperfection. Music in the drawing-room is a subject
from which I shrink. In many houses of the wealthy and of
the middle classes we find earnest endeavours to cultivate
only the best music, and to give to it that time and attention
which it so imperatively demands ; but we cannot ignore the
fact that music often forms part of evening entertainments as
an amusement, as a means of passing time or stimulating
conversation. I decline even to attempt to draw a picture of
musical art thus degraded, for I do not think it would serve
any useful purpose ; and I might run the risk of provoking
laughter, and thereby incur the displeasure of Mr. Chairman:
this is supposed to be a meeting of serious persons for serious
purposes. I pass on to music in the church, and I am sorry
to say that here little attention seems to have been paid to

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the apostle's injunction, 44 Let all things be done decently
and in order " ; for we meet with very bad instances of
maltreatment. I might call your attention to the disfigure-
ments of good old church tunes at the end of last century by
the addition of grace notes, turns, and other embellishments ;
also to the mutilation, torturing, and twisting of tunes
mentioned by the Rev. Thomas Walter in his 44 Grounds and
Rules of Music" (1721) which made of psalm-singing, he
says, 44 a mere disorderly noise ... so hideous as to be bad
beyond expression " ; or try and show by examples that the
picture of a village choir, as given by the late George Elliot
in her famous 44 Scenes of Clerical Life," or Washington
Irving's description of the 44 Christmas Anthem " in his
' 4 Sketch Book," is no caricature ; but with regard to im-
perfect or even bad performances in places of worship, we are
sometimes told that the will must be taken for the deed, and
that the ordinary rules of criticism are here out of place.
Well, so let it be. I accept this statement for what it is
worth, and pass on to another matter — the use, or rather
misuse, which has been made of secular music for sacred
purposes. As the Israelites borrowed from the Egyptians, so
the Christian Church (both Catholic and Protestant) has not
scrupled to appropriate the music of the world, and, by the
association of sacred words, to try and fit it for the purposes
of the sanctuary. In vocal music different words may be
set to a piece without doing any material injury to it. In
an opera there may be an air with words expressing joy or
sorrow, a calm or an agitated state of mind ; and though the
words may be uttered by Greek or Pagan, we can easily
conceive of other words expressing similar sentiments being
adapted to it, and thus rendering it fit for sacred purposes.
For example, in the 44 Choral Harmonist, or Sacred Extracts
from the Great Masters," we find a foot-note to the chorus of
the Priests of Dagon from 44 Samson," 44 Awake the trumpet's
lofty sound," which reads thus : — 44 It having been stated to
the publisher that the introduction of Dagon's name into this
chorus unfits it for the practice of Christians, he recommends
in the passages where that name occurs to substitute the
name Jehovah for the words 44 When Dagon." This process
of sanctification is a curious one, but anyhow the music
does not suffer from the change of words : it serves equally
well to express Pagan or Jewish joy. But to take instru-
mental music and set words to it is, to my mind, a maltreat-
ment ; and a few successful arrangements do not justify the
process. The slow movements from some of the Beethoven
Sonatas have been set to sacred words, the Adagio of Mozart's
grand serenata for wind instruments has been turned into an
offertory, and pieces from 44 Titus " have shared a similar fate.
If movements are taken from classical works little known or

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seldom played there is, perhaps, not much harm done, pro-
vided the arrangements be judiciously managed ; but when we
read of the ensemble from the second Finale in " Figaro " set to
the words " O Jesu mi, miserere nobis," a motett to be used at
Benediction ; of whole Masses arranged from Mozart's operas
— one in particular being known as a " Missa di Figaro-
Don Giovanni " — of " Batti Batti " arranged as a hymn
tune to the words —

Ye who walk in darkness mourning
After light and comfort gone.

or of the Huntsman's chorus from " Der Freyschiitz " set to
" The Lord is my shepherd " ; or a love duet of Mendelssohn's
(Op. 63, No. 1) to words about " Spirits washed in the blood
of Christ," we may truly say that secular music is maltreated,
and that the Church shows strange taste in sanctioning such
foolish mixtures. The mania for appropriating secular music
is bad enough ; but when, in doing so, the transcribers cut,
add, and alter, the shame and the sin are the greater. Yet
this sort of thing is constantly done. Charles Dibdin, in one
of his entertainments, used to relate a story of some Cornish-
men whom he met, as he was travelling to the Land's End :
they were bearing music books and instruments. " Where are
you going ? " said Charles. " To church, to practice our music
for Sunday," was the reply. u Whose music do you sing ? "
asked the poet. " Oh, Handel, Handel ! " answered the men,
" Don't you find Handel's music rather difficult ? " said Dibdin.
" Yees it war, at first, but we altered km, and so we does very
well with un now." The Cornishmen may have done very
well with un, but probably Handel's music fared badly. And
secular music has thus been altered, mutilated, and tortured,
not only by simple men, but by educated musicians. I am
strongly tempted to give you examples of this kind of maltreat-
ment, but time forbids. Some, if not all of you, will know
that there is no lack of material. There is a positive embarras
de richesse, and were I to indulge in illustrations, some
authorities on church music present might possibly think
I had not chosen the best, or, I suppose I ought to say,
the worst specimens.

I now turn to the stage. Berlioz speaks of alterations
which mutilated, in the most barbarous fashion, certain
passages of Gluck's " Orphee." Further, he informs us that
these mutilations were preserved in the printed French score,
and always reproduced at the performances of " Orph6e " at
the Opera which he heard between 1825 — 30. The orchestra-
tion was also tampered with ; clarinets were used instead of
English horns in the romance " Piango el mio ben cosi " ;
trombones used in certain parts of the " Scene des Enfers "
where not employed by the author, and thus, as Berlioz

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The Maltreatment of Music.

observes, weakening their effect in the famous answer of the
demons (Non). And even in 1859, when the work was revived
at the Theatre Lyrique, when precautions were taken to give the
opera in pure form, Berlioz found fault with the great singer,
Madame Viardot, for liberties she took with the text. Then
again he tells us of the performances of 44 Alceste," given at
the Op6ra in 1825 ; some of the pieces were most unworthily
mutilated, and a quantity of other, and of the best, suppressed.
When revived in 1861 the performance was only " d'une assez
respectueuse exactitude." Again he tells us of trombones
added in the duet from " Armide " (Esprits de haine et de rage),
and thus performed at the Conservatoire ; also of other additions
in the performances at Berlin. Spontini so overloaded with
brass the Temple scene in " Armide " that the Crown Prince
^afterwards Frederic William IV.) said to the conductor, " Le
beryl est une belle et brillante pierre, mats a cute du diamant il
ne plait guere." And lastly, who does not know the amusing
account given by Berlioz of his visits to the Opera on Gluck
nights, and of the improvements in the master's scores which
so roused his indignation. One night cymbals were introduced
into the Scythian ballet of 44 Iphig6nie en Tauride." From the
pit Berlioz shouts out, 14 There should be no cymbals there.
Who allows himself to correct Gluck ? " And when the trom-
bones accompanying the monologue of Orestes were suppressed
he calls out, 44 The trombones should not be silent." This
reminds us of Frederic the Great, who, according to
Dr. Burney, used to take up his post in the pit of his Opera
House, immediately behind the conductor of the orchestra,
on whose score he kept his eye, and would never allow a
singer to alter a single passage in his part. Berlioz, however,
had no need to glance at the conductor's copy : he knew the
scores of Gluck by heart. And Mozart's operas have also
been unworthily treated. Two years after the composer's
death we read in the Berlin Musikalisches Wochenblatt
44 Mozart's admirable music was so mangled at Schikaneder's
theatre, that one would fain have run away." Sir Henry
Bishop's arrangements, or rather derangements, of 44 Figaro "
and 44 Don Giovanni " give one a good idea of the dreadful
system of meddling and muddling practised in what may
be called the dark ages of musical art. The mutilations,
ornaments, and alterations to be found on almost every page
of the Bishop scores are as senseless as they are sinful.
Why, he put a common-place ending of his own to the
overture of 44 Don Giovanni," and the Mozart overture of
44 Figaro " was replaced by some horrid hash. I will give you
one short specimen of his officious and vulgar changes. If we
find bars are left out, we can imagine that the adaptor feared
lest length of piece would weary the audience ; if runs, shakes
and other ornaments are introduced, we can fancy that the

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ngers had something to do with it ; but why on earth change
the concluding bars of " Voi che sapete." Mozart wrote —

1

tr

-»- * :

— 1 — r~* —

A, L B_

ai_t-

J=g=i ^ —

which Bishop has altered to —

But probably the worst crime ever committed was the
production of Mozart's "Magic Flute" at Paris in 1801,
under the title of " Les Mysteres d'Isis." Spohr, in a letter
which appeared in a Leipzig journal, tells us that this
version, the work of " some Germans," so sinned against the
immortal master as to make him blush for shame. He adds
that the French always highly disapproved of this vandalic
mutilation of a great masterpiece ; yet it is a fact that it has
kept a place ever since in the repertoire of the French
opera-house, and two or three seasons ago was announced
to be given at Covent Garden Theatre. I am almost
sorry the promise was not kept, for I am sure there would
have been a general feeling of indignation amongst all serious
artists in London, and the French musical public would
have learnt that though we tolerate much that is repre-
hensible, we utterly condemn such shameful and wholesale
confusion, change, and mutilation. I cannot stop to describe
the hodge-podge manufactured by Lachnith ; you can read
about it for yourselves in the letter of Spohr's already
referred to, also in Berlioz's " Memoires," and in Jahn's " Life
of Mozart." Spohr speaks of this frightful version— this
Parisian travesty — of the " Zauberflote " as the work of
"some Germans," but Berlioz only as the work of a German.
Fetis, however, in his Dictionary, couples with the name of
Lachnith that of the elder Kalkbrenner. Dishonour to whom
dishonour is due, and if he had a hand in it, Kalkbrenner's
name should not be kept back. We know that he had some-

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thing, if not everything, to do with the garbled version of
" Don Giovanni," produced on the Paris stage, Septem-
ber 17, 1805.

Among celebrated works which seem to have been specially
predestined to the palm of martyrdom, Weber's " Der
Freyschiitz" holds a prominent place. The mutilation of
this opera commenced at an early period of its existence.
First performed at Berlin on the 18th of June, 1820, it made
its way to Vienna in 1822. Zamiel and the hermit were
omitted ; other alterations were made ; and the orchestration
was tampered with. Weber was much annoyed when he
heard of all this, and by remonstrance succeeded at last in
having the work given nearly in its proper form. In a letter
to his wife, the composer writes, " At all events, they have
let me have my devil and my rifle-bullets."

Two years later " Der Freyschiitz " was played in Paris.
With the exception of the hermit, condemned by the censor-
ship, the words were a literal and complete translation of the
German libretto, and the music, I believe, faithfully given ;
but the opera met with no success. Then Castil Blaze
mangled it, arranged it anew, made a medley of it according
to his fancy, so as to season it to the taste of his audience.
(Uestropia, le deposa sur un autre plan, le tripota a sa
fantasie afin de V assaisonner an gotU des auditeurs.) This
is Blaze's own description of what he did. Castil Blaze, a
prolific writer on music and the drama, was born in 1784,
and died in 1857. His principal work, 11 De l'op^ra en
France," appeared in 1820. For ten years (1822-32) he was
musical critic of the Journal des Debats. As the librettist of
" Robin des Bois," he earned for himself, as we shall now
show, a not altogether enviable reputation ; this was the
title of the new version of " Freyschiitz " which he prepared.
Berlioz, in his 44 Memoires," speaking of this production, tells
us how he heard the work, not in its pristine beauty, but
mutilated, vulgarised, tortured, and insulted in a thousand
ways by an arranger (mutile, vulgarise* , torturS, et insulU de

the notice taken of his music in Paris, wrote to Blaze and
accused him of illegal conduct, but the Frenchman took no
notice of his letter. He had behaved in an uncourteous, nay,
unkind manner to the German composer, but the latter had
no remedy at law. I may here remind you of a curious law-
suit in Paris, about twenty-five years ago, in connection with
this very opera, 44 Der Freyschiitz." A German was so
disgusted at the cuts and interpolations at a performance at
the Opera, that he entered an action against the management
and recovered the sum he had paid for admission. Now,
Berlioz's description of Blaze's workmanship is by no means
exaggerated, as I think the following brief account of 44 Robin

Weber, though flattered at

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101

des Bois " will show. The plot was quite different, but I
will only speak about the music. In the first act, the Waltz
and Max Aria are placed before the Terzett with chorus.
The act ends with the " Lasst lustig die Horner." There
are some wretched alterations in the Max Scena. The three
first numbers of the second act are given in their original
order. In the third (the famous Agathe scena) we notice
first in the introduction a bar added and a vulgar cadenza ;
then a stupid alteration of the seventh bar of the melody ;
further, six bars of the recitative between the two verses
reduced to three ; and, in what follows, other changes of
notes and bars. The next number in 44 Robin " is the duet
M Hin nimm die Seele," from 44 Euryanthe." In the opening
symphony, bar seven is repeated twice (at least, with one
little difference), and then a cut is made to bar eighteen. The
whole of the middle section ( 4< Seufzer wie Flammen ") is
treated as solo, bits being taken from each of the vocal parts.
In the Finale (the celebrated Incantation Scene) we have the
music down to the striking of the clock, and it then passes
on to the place where Max arrives at the waterfall. There
are other changes, one of which is the introduction of a
chorus of demons at the close. In the third act there are some
awful changes and ornaments in Aennchen's Romanza and
Aria ; and Caspar's Aria from the first act is pushed into
this third act. In the Finale, at the place where Zamiel
disappears, a good part of Weber's music disappears also in
44 Robin," and when at last Max's 44 Die zukunft soli " comes,
it is in B flat instead of B major. There are many other
cuts and changes. I speak of this version from examination
of a piano score. How far Blaze tampered with Weber's
lovely orchestration, I cannot say. But now let me speak
for a moment of what he did with another work of Weber's.

In 1773, a piece written by the well-known dramatist,
C. C0II6, was played with very great success at the Theatre
Francais; it was called 44 Part ie de Chasse de Henry IV."
Now Castil Blaze thought he could improve (it seemed,
indeed, the mission of his life to improve things) Colle's
comedy by introducing a lot of music from various German and
Italian operas. I will not give you a detailed account of this
gallimaufry, but mention only what part Weber's music
played in it ; and also a movement from the Pastoral
Symphony. This new opera was entitled 44 La Foret de
Senart." The Huntsman's Chorus from 44 Euryanthe " is in
it. Weber has scored it for four horns and bass trombone,
but, at the fourteenth bar, Blaze introduces wood-wind,
trumpets, the two other trombones, and drums ; and these
added instruments keep up an incessant din till the end of
the movement. In Bertha's solo with chorus, 44 Frohliche
Klange," Weber set the music to words about singing and

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102 The Maltreatment of Music.

dancing ; Castil Blaze, however, to words about a storm —
and to what do you think the movement leads ? You would
perhaps not be surprised to hear that it was to some fresh
mutilation of Weber; but no. This time Blaze aimed
higher, and he introduces the Storm from the Pastoral
Symphony, with improved (sic) orchestration. He employs
four horns instead of two ; adds the Grosse Caisse ; and his
three trombones bellow out forte notes already in the first
bar. You, of course, all remember the pianissimo tremolo
of the basses at the opening of the Beethoven movement.
Well, Blaze did not introduce the forte here, but cut out the
first twenty bars ; and in like manner he gives later on the
first twenty-four bars of the " Hirtengesang " up to the ff,
and then, as his piece has lasted long enough, he adds on
the last five bars of the Beethoven Finale, and his movement
comes to an end. His meddling with the Beethoven scoring
is surprisingly audacious, and in one place he has made an
alteration of notes which forms a worthy companion to the
correction of the M Eroica," mentioned in another part of
this paper —

THE PASTORAL SYMPHONY.
End of Storm.

Beethoven —

— O^j O^jp

Mr-

&c.

Blaze —

— igg — ssp— u

One or two other alterations of Weber might be mentioned,
but they would sound tame after this horrible tampering
with Beethoven's text.

Weber hearing of this massacre of his work wrote to Blaze
from Dresden, and so interesting is the letter that I will read
you a translation of it. It is dated January 4, 1826, and runs
thus : —

You thought it superfluous to honour me with an answer to my letter of
December 15 (this was the letter already referred to in which mention is
made of the mutilation of the 11 Freyschiitz ''), and now in spite of myself I am
under the necessity of addressing you for the second time. I am told that
you are preparing a work for the Odeon Theatre, in which there are some
numbers from " Euryanthe." I intend mounting this work myself at Paris ;
I have not sold my score, and no one has it in France ; it is, perhaps, from
a printed vocal score that you have taken the numbers of which you intend
to make use. You have no right to mutilate my music, introducing into

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103

your work my pieces with scoring of your own. It was quite bad enough to
introduce into " Freyschiitz " a duet from " Euryanthe " with accompaniments
of your own. (Poor Weber, it seems, did not know the worst.) You
compel me, sir, to appeal to public opinion, and to publish in the French
newspapers that I am robbed, not only of music which belongs to me, but
of my reputation, by the performances of mutilated pieces announced under
my name. In order to avoid all public quarrels, which do no good either
to art or artists, I sincerely beg you, sir, to withdraw from your work all the
pieces which belong to me. I like to forget the wrong which has been
done me ; I will say nothing more about " Der Freyschiitz," but stop there,
sir, and leave me the hope of being able to meet you with sentiments
worthy of your talent and of your intelligence (esprit).

I remain, 4c,

C. M. Von Weber.

We may just remark, as an interesting fact, that Weber,
on his way to London to superintend the last rehearsals and
to conduct the first performances of his " Oberon " at Covent
Garden Theatre, passed through Paris, remaining there from
February 25 to March 2. During his short stay " La Foret
de Senart " and " Robin des Bois " were both given at the
Odeon, but he saw neither. In the middle of the Hunts-
man's Chorus, in the Blaze version, there is a slow movement
introduced written by Blaze himself, and the Chorus thus
altered was played as Weber's composition at the Conserva-
toire. Blaze himself boasted of the fact.

We now pass on a quarter of a century, and come to
another maltreatment of " Der Freyschiitz " in Paris. It
was to be given at the Opera House in 1841, and as Wagner
relates in his account of the matter, over the gates of the
Academic de Musique were written the commandments,
"Thou shalt dance," and again, " Thou shalt not speak."
In other words, a ballet was absolutely indispensable, and
the spoken dialogue had to be turned into recitative. Berlioz
was asked by M. Pillet, the director, to make the necessary
changes. He consented on condition that neither libretto
nor music should be altered. When Wagner heard that
Berlioz was to prepare the recitatives he was very pleased,
for he knew the French composer was an ardent and intelli-
gent admirer of Weber's music. But after hearing the first
performance he declared that Berlioz had kept so in the back-
ground as to disfigure " Freyschiitz " and render it tedious.
There was some trouble about the ballet. Berlioz's protesta-
tions were in vain, so at last he consented to score Weber's
" Invitation a la Valse." But the director wanted him to
include in the ballet music the Bal from his Symphonie
Fantastique and the fete from his 11 Romeo et Juliette."
Berlioz, however, although his opportunities of getting his
own music performed were not too numerous, resisted the
temptation, and completed the ballet with music from
" Preciosa" and "Oberon," so that at least all the music
was Weber's. M. Pillet appears to have kept faith with

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The Maltreatment of Music.

Berlioz and to have given a faithful version of the opera,
but soon after he resigned his post as director, and his suc-
cessor suppressed the Finale of the third act, also the first
tableau containing Agathe's prayer, the scene of the young
maidens, and the air of Annetta with viola obbligato. " And
thus dishonoured," says Berlioz, in his Memoires, " is * Der
Freyschutz ' now performed at the Paris Opera House." While
quoting Berlioz, I may remind you of the way in which his
own Opera, "Les Troyens," was maltreated in 1862. It was
altered, cut, improved in many ways, now to please the
director, now the machinist, now one or other of the singers.
Berlioz gives a list of ten numbers, vocal and instrumental,
withdrawn after the first performance.

Kind, the author of the libretto of " Der Freyschutz," in
his interesting " Freyschutzbuch " tells a story about a
theatre manager, who announced on his bills that " Der
Freyschutz " would be given, but that the music interfering
with the action of the piece would be omitted. This at any
rate was frank, and perhaps more to be commended than the
impertinent alterations of which I have been speaking.
Time will prevent me telling you anything about the early
performances of "Der Freyschutz" in London under the
management of Bishop and of Hawes.

In Giliberti's Italian version of " Don Juan," Harlequin,
conversing with the gentle fishermaiden, Kosalba, produces
the record of his master's conquests — a long roll of parch-
ment which he throws before him as he unfolds it so that
the further end reaches the middle of the pit. Now given
a very large theatre and a very wide roll of parchment, still
I think it could easily be filled with a catalogue of sins
committed by vocalists, instrumentalists, and conductors
against the music of the great writers. Many years ago
composers took singers, as it were, into partnership: the
latter were allowed, nay in many cases expected, to add
ornaments to the written text. In 1814 Rossini wrote a
cavatina for the sopranist, Velluti. At rehearsal the
singer added ornaments which were in good taste and met
with the approval of the composer; but at the performance
there were so many fresh embroideries that Rossini scarcely
recognised his own music. So disgusted was he at the
liberties taken with the text by Velluti that he resolved for
the future to write out his own ornaments, and not leave
singers a place for adding the least grace note. But though
Rossini and other composers adopted the plan of writing
down exactly what they wished to be sung, vocalists have
refused to surrender the liberty once granted to them, and
hence we frequently hear alterations and additions which
may show off the extraordinary compass or the wonderful
flexibility of the singer's voice, but which often show but little

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105

regard for the composer's intentions. Also some of the best
pianists of the present day seem unable to resist the tempta-
tion of altering the text of the great masters. To add a note
or an octava mark to certain passages in Beethoven's sonatas
(as Dr. Hans von Bulow has done) is the reverse of maltreat-
ment, but to play whole passages (or even whole pieces) in
octaves where single notes have been written, to introduce
runs and flourishes, to change the figures in order to obtain
increased brilliancy of effect, to make many small but vexa-
tious alterations, to change the endings of pieces, all this
savours of foolishness. And when we consider that composers
whose works are so frequently maltreated were great pianists
themselves, the sin seems all the greater. I had a few
examples to give you, but it is unpleasant to mention names,
and so I pass on to conductors ; yet not without first pointing
out two of the leading pianists of the day who have always
proved faithful and conscientious interpreters of classical
pianoforte music, I mean Madame Schumann and Mr.
Charles Hall6. Other names could doubtless be added, but
these two are, I think, specially deserving of mention.

Of conductors, I may mention the celebrated Habeneck,
who took many strange liberties with Beethoven's symphonies
at the Paris Conservatoire. I will name only one. He
would never allow the double basses to play in the opening
passage of the Scherzo of the C minor Symphony ; he con-
sidered they produced a bad effect. Then, again, Kreutzer
(to whom Beethoven dedicated his famous piano and violin
Sonata, Op. 47) was guilty of some very bad cuts in the
second Beethoven Symphony. And we can also accuse the
famous Spontini of tampering with the works of his pre-
decessors. And in this country one conductor in particular
has shown but little respect for the great composers. The
text and orchestration of Handel, Cherubini, Mozart, and
even Beethoven have been freely altered, and, in many cases,
utterly spoilt. I cannot stop to speak about the maltreat-
ments caused by conductors failing to take the right tempi.
The dragging of a fast movement, the hurrying of a slow one
naturally alters the character and effect of the music. And
then again, there is the all-important question of "reading";
much might be said about the cold, lifeless performances of
symphonies often heard in our concert rooms.

Such are a few of the instances of the maltreatment of
music. The arts of poetry and painting have fared no better.
Shakespeare has been altered at pleasure ; the pictures of
great geniuses have been scraped, skinned, burnt, varnished,
retouched and refreshed by ordinary hands : in fact, men
seem to have taken pleasure in cruelly treating the art
treasures committed to their care. Let us look for a moment
at the principal causes which have brought about this

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deplorable state of things : they are, I think, want of reverence,
ignorance and vanity ; but the greatest of these is vanity.
We may accuse Bach of a certain want of reverence for his
alterations and additions in his transcriptions of Vivaldi's
concertos ; Dr. Bulow of a great want of reverence for his
treatment of Scarlatti, Sebastian Bach, and especially
Emanuel Bach ; and Tausig, the famous pianist, of a total
want of reverence for Weber, as shown in his concert trans-
cription of the " Invitation a la Valse," which has been justly
described by a well known writer as a 11 musical monstrosity."

The sins which come of ignorance are legion, so I will pass
them by. You can all see for yourselves day by day the
evil fruits of the want of knowledge. But I will give you
one or two examples of maltreatment resulting from want of
reverence, or vanity, or both combined. Nageli, the eminent
music publisher, ventured to interpolate four bars into the
first movement of Beethoven's Sonata in G (Op. 31, No. 1) :

Beethoven Sonata, Op. 30, No. 4. Near close of 1st movement.

1

;=^Ef —

L * 1

This showed want of reverence, but it must have been vanity
which prompted him to retain the bars after the mistake had
been pointed out by the composer.

And then again, there is the famous alteration of a passage
in Beethoven's Sonata in E flat (Op. 8ia). In the first
movement the composer wrote —

Beethoven.

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107

1

1

P

SEE

i

3E

^2;

which was changed into

(As written in an old Vienna edition, and also in French edition (Launer,
Paris).

P

mtn-

n m -

-ft

****

I \-° £i± 1 i

r~s 1 c k h r 1

1 1_

I believe Czerny was the author of this " new reading." And
last, but not least, I would mention Fetis. He ventured to
correct Mozart, and Oulibichiff, his biographer, ventured to
praise him for so doing. In the introduction to his Quartet
in C, Mozart wrote

QUARTET IV.

Adagio.

ist Violin. jl

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The Maltreatment of Music.

cres.

and Fetis proposed —

agic
Vic

Adagio.
ist Violin.

2nd Violin.

P3?

Viola.

P

p v "

Violoncello.

f ^

J — I — l— H — I-

— d — — -
-m 0 0 +

*

r— * 0 -m r

— F ps 1 j

1

p

cm.

k->j j j j j ji

cres.

i i < iii-

— m m m m w~m

cres.

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109

thus getting rid of the harsh effect resulting from false
relation, an effect intended by the composer. " I have
played," says OulibichifF, 14 and I shall always thus play the
Introduction of the Quartet in C, now admirable from
beginning to end, thanks to the happy correction of M. Fetis,
who probably has only restored Mozart's text."

Fetis also found fault with, and corrected passages in
Beethoven's Symphonies. He wished to change the E flat in
the fourth bar into F of the celebrated upper pedal for clarinet
in the slow movement of the C minor Symphony. "This E
flat is evidently an F," he said ; 4 ' it is impossible that
Beethoven can have made such a gross error." Perhaps he
was also guilty of correcting the celebrated entry of the horn
in the " Eroica." Ries, you will remember, nearly got a box
on the ears from the composer for crying out at the rehearsal
on first performance of the Symphony, " Le cor s'est trompe."

A striking example of want of reverence and vanity com-
bined has quite recently come under my notice. It is in the
Musical Times of this month. I will read what is written :

An enterprising publisher, Heir Hugo Pohle, of Hamburgh, announces a
real Tenth Symphony by Beethoven. On looking closer into the announce-
ment we find this to be Beethoven's String Quartet (Op. 131) arranged for
full orchestra by Muller-Berghaus. It is to be regretted (continues the writer
in the Musical Times) there should be an earnest musician to be found who
would consent to so misrepresent and mutilate one of the most beautiful
works of the master, and a publisher to lend his aid in publishing such an
arrogant arrangement.

Arrangements of Beethoven's works commenced at an
early period, and caused no little annoyance to the composer.
In 1802, a notice appeared in a Vienna paper calling attention
to the fact that the quintets recently published at Mollo's
and Hoffmeister's were not original works, but transcriptions
(the one of the Septet, the other of the Symphony in C).
'* It would be useless," says the writer (Beethoven himself),
" for an author to set his face against transcriptions ; but it
would be only fair if the publishers would announce the fact
on the title-page, so that the reputation of the author might
not be injured, nor the public deceived."

If we compare the orchestra of the latter part of the
eighteenth century, the one for which Haydn, Mozart, and
Beethoven wrote, with the orchestra of Monteverde, we find,
undoubtedly, progress. The orchestras of the seventeenth
century are scarcely deserving of the name : as in Joseph's
coat, so in them there was variety of colour, but no particular
method or logical order in the grouping of the various
instruments. The disappearance of the harpsichord from
the orchestra about the middle of the eighteenth century was
another improvement ; and pianofortes, first of six and after-
wards seven octaves, cannot but be regarded as an immense

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advance upon the clavichords, harpsichords, and other keyed
instruments of the last century. Now this progress has
produced many changes, and these changes have frequently
been the cause of maltreatment. Of course, you will at once
perceive that I am coming to the vexed question of
" additional accompaniments," but you need not be alarmed
for I will be very brief. The operas and oratorios of the
seventeenth century, if produced now, would have to be
completely reconstructed so far as their instrumental portions
are concerned ; but they are old in manner as well as matter,
and we are content to talk and write about them, without
troubling ourselves to bring them to a hearing. But time
in its ever onward march has maltreated some of the master-
pieces of Bach and Handel. First it has taken away
the composers themselves, who alone could say exactly how
the figured Continuo, or the more difficult unfigured Continuo
was to be treated. Time has consigned to oblivion some of
the instruments for which they wrote, and considerably
altered the nature of others. Now this state of things,
resulting from change, the inevitable law of nature, has given
rise to two different kinds of maltreatment. Some of the
extreme purists talk of playing Bach and Handel's music as
they wrote it and without additional accompaniments.
They can only talk of it, for any attempt to keep strictly to
the letter of the text results in a travesty of the composer's
intentions. Robert Franz, speaking of the performances of
the Bach Cantatas at Halle, tells us how the public " heard
with astonishment a duet between flute and double-bass, or
a monologue from the Continuo, but accepted these and
other peculiarities as specimens of the good old time." And
lately in London an attempt (for after all it was no more)
was made to perform Handel's " Resurrection " as he wrote
it. But some of the numbers thus given were but bodies
from which the soul had fled. They were like the phantom
figures sent down by the gods of Olympus amongst the
Greeks and Trojans on the plains of Troy.

The other kind of maltreatment is perhaps worse. The
process of restoration is often undertaken without reverence
for the composer's intentions ; it is, in fact, not a process of
restoration at all, but merely dressing up the works of the
old masters in nineteenth century clothes. Was not even
Mendelssohn once guilty of this crime ; it was, however, one
of the sins of his youth, and he afterwards was very sorry for
what he had done. Many of Handel's works have thus
been given for years in England, and to express their disgust
purists are tempted to do things equally foolish and unfair in
the contrary direction. It is no doubt difficult to preserve
the happy mean ; but we must not fight against facts. The
fashions of this world do pass away, and works of art decay

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and even die. What has become of the ancient wooden
statues of the Greeks ? Cedar, ebony, and other kinds of
wood were selected for their capability of resisting the effects
of time, and Pliny indeed spoke of the eternity of their
material (materia' ipsa aternitasy What has become of the
ivory and gold statues of Phidias, and of the paintings of
the Greeks ? And as an example of decay I need only point
to Rubens's masterpiece, " The Descent from the Cross."
The dead Christ has had to be restored. Sir J. Reynolds
was mortified to see to what degree this picture has suffered
by cleaning and mending. And in music decay is a difficulty,
but one which must be met, not ignored ; and it requires
care and judgment not to maltreat works by refusing to
acknowledge change, or by showing indifference as to the
mode of restoring works on which time has laid its unsparing
hand.

Composers have sometimes been responsible for the
mutilation of their works. The composers of the eighteenth
century, says Schcelcher, in his life of Handel, did not attach
sufficient importance to the publication of their works. Of
Gluck, Berlioz in his "A travers chants " says, "The attentive
and careful editing of his works seems to have been beyond
Gluck's strength. His scores were all written with incon-
ceivable laisser alter . When they were printed the engraver
added his faults to those of the manuscript, and it does not
appear that the author troubled himself about correcting the
proofs." But the chief grievance against composers is, I
think, their impracticability. Revelling in their thoughts, they
run at times to 44 heavenly lengths," but managers, conductors,
and performers having to deal with the inhabitants of 44 this
dim spot which men call earth," resort to cuts, at times wise and
judicious, but often cruel and remorseless. Time fails me in
connection with this matter to speak about Schubert, Rossini,
Meyerbeer, and especially Wagner.

By examining the causes of maltreatment, we can form
some idea as to the possibility of getting rid of the thing
itself. The friends of education look forward to a time when
knowledge shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea,
and as ignorance declines, respect and reverence for all great
men will increase, so we may reasonably expect the gradual
extinction of the wicked race of the Blazes, the Bishops,
and the Lachniths. But will vanity ever cease ? Knowledge
is a tree both of good and evil, and so long as human nature
remains the same, I fear we shall find some executants
thinking more of themselves than of the works which they
are interpreting. But let us hope that musicians of talent
and reputation will cease to set a bad example. When a
Liszt ventures to introduce shakes and tremoli into the first
movement of the Moonlight Sonata ; when a Henselt re-writes

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Beethoven's Sonata in D minor (Op. 31, No. 2), when a Bulow
ventures to add notes to the Chromatic Fantasia of Bach, to
modernise the Sonatas of Emanuel Bach, and to tamper with
Weber's Concertstuck, so long will mediocrities be encouraged
to play foolish and fantastic tricks, dishonour the great masters
and pervert the taste of the public.

In conclusion, one word about the music of the future.
Hero worship is a good thing, but by gazing too intently at the
luminaries of the past our eyes become dazzled : we cannot
see what is going on around us, and still less can we detect
the faint streaks of light, heralds of coming brightness.
Haydn recognised the rising genius of Mozart. Mozart in

his turn that of Beethoven, and Beethoven Well, here I

must stop. Beethoven could not point out his successor,
for, like the British Fleet in Sheridan's play, that important
personage was not then in sight. And did not Schumann
hail Berlioz, Chopin, Heller, Brahms, and others as coming
men ! Some musicians condemn anything which departs, be it
by ever so little, from what is termed classical form. But
are the old masters to be a law unto all future generations.
No, they are old masters ; but we want new masters, men
who in their turn will become old. Why, Beethoven himself
was a ' 4 new departure "; the 9th Symphony was foolishness
to some, and a stumbling block to the conservatives of
Beethoven's time.

We must profit by the lessons of the past, try and understand
the signs of the times, and thus fit our minds and those of
others to receive new ideas, new forms, and it may be eventually
a new gospel of art. In so far as we do this we shall prevent
the future maltreatment of music, the inevitable fruit of
prejudice and mental blindness.

DISCUSSION.

The Chairman. — I am sure we are very much obliged to
Mr. Shedlock for his most interesting, and, I may add, most
amusing paper. It certainly is one of the liveliest papers,
taking it all round, that I remember to have heard in this
room. Some of the subjects selected for our meditations at
these meetings have necessarily been to a certain extent dry,
but Mr. Shedlock has had an excellent opportunity with
the subject he has chosen this afternoon, and I think you
will agree with me he has made the most of the chance he
has had. I have made several memoranda which have
occurred to me while he was speaking. I think the remark
with regard to the maltreatment of music by school girls, and
by pupils in general, is a matter to which he did very well to
draw attention. I do not think there is any greater mistake

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in that matter than the abominable fashion of considering
that every girl is obliged to learn the piano. Those in this
room who, like Mr. Shedlock and myself, are pianoforte
teachers, know perfectly well what a nuisance it is to have a
pupil who has no music in her, and who, if she lived to the
age of Methusalah, never would play decently; we all know
that there are scores of such, and that they come under the
personal observation of nearly every teacher, but I am afraid
that is a matter with which it is very difficult to deal. It is
a fashion that everybody shall learn, and in the great majority of
cases it is no use for the teacher to say to a parent, "I
recommend your daughter to discontinue music as she is
simply wasting her time and your money." I have said it
more than once, and in some cases the mother has had the
sense to follow my advice, but in the majority of cases they
will say, " Perhaps she will play better as she gets on and
grows a little older." I know better, but it is no use to
argue a thing of that kind. I hope, with the general spread
of musical education, there will be some improvement in that
respect, and the parents will in time get to see that it is no
use to try to drill music into the head of a girl who has no
natural musical ability at all. Mr. Shedlock spoke about the
adaptation of secular music to sacred words, and gave some
good examples. There was a very ludicrous instance in a
popular collection of psalmody published within the last few
years : it contains, as the setting of a psalm tune, a little
piece out of the introduction to the overture of "Der
Freyschiitz" set as a tune to sevens metre — that little bit
of the duet for horns in the introduction in the major. I
wrote to the editor, who happened to be a friend of mine, and
entreated him to cut the thing out as being an outrage. I said,
"It is perfectly preposterous, everybody knows, nearly, that it
is out of the ' Freyschiitz,' " but the only answer I got was, " it
makes a capital tune, it is no matter where it comes from."
I think a great many have the same feeling. It was the
Rev. Rowland Hill, I believe, who justified adaptations on the
plea that he did not see why the devil should have all the
good music. I think with regard to what Mr. Shedlock said
as to the performance of the " Zauberflote " under the adapted
title, in Paris of late there has been some improvement in
that respect. It has lately been revived, within a year or two,
at the Paris Opera, and I think I am correct in saying that
now they do it, at all events approximately, as Mozart wrote
it, not in the garbled form ; at all events, in the notices I read
in the music journals, such as the Revue et Gazette Musicale,
there was no mention made of any such mangling, and I
think most likely critics, who are really good men, would
have noticed it if any such profanation had taken place. I
thoroughly agree with every word Mr. Shedlock said on the

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question of additional accompaniments. There is a great
outcry nowadays with regard to music, M Let us have the
old masters as they were written," but, as Mr. Shedlock said
with regard to the " Resurrection " of Handel, and Handel
in general, it is simply an impossibility. I do not think I
ever laughed much more in a concert room than at the recent
performance by Willing's choir of Handel's " Resurrection ";
in one number, which was written for the violoncello and
continuo, Handel intended the violoncellos and harpsichord
to be used, but there was nothing but violoncellos; they were
warbling up and down all by themselves, and duetting with
the voice, producing the most ludicrous effect. In such cases
we must fill up the harmony. We cannot find a harpsichord,
to begin with, except in an old second-hand music dealer's, or
we might get an instrument from Messrs. Broadwood, which
would be about 100 years old, and which would be as much like
a new harpsichord as an old pianoforte out of Wardour Street
would be like a concert grand. If we cannot get a new harpsi-
chord we must leave it out. It is impracticable either with
Bach or Handel to reproduce the music as originally written,
and therefore we must have additional accompaniments of
some kind. The question is of what kind. We must try
and keep the old spirit as far as we can in adding accompani-
ments for the instruments which are at present available
in the orchestra instead of those which are now no longer in
use. I think it would be very improper to write additional
accompaniments for one of Handel's oratorios, scoring it
after the manner of Verdi with piccolo flute, and a great
quantity of brass, and adding chromatic harmonies, such
as we find in Spohr ; that would be as great an outrage
upon art as leaving it without any filling up at all. I
think one is just as bad as the other. Then Mr. Shedlock
referred to the impracticability of some composers, that
is to say, their not troubling themselves at all as to whether
what they wrote was playable or comfortably playable at all.
While he was reading that part of his paper a little anecdote
of Beethoven came into my mind, which may be new
to some of you, although others perhaps will have heard it
before. It appears that in one of his Rasoumowski quartets,
which were dedicated to his patron, Prince Rasoumowski,
I think it is the first quartet, there is a very difficult passage
for the first violin. When the work was first written, and was
going to be played at Count Rasoumowski's, Schuppanzigh,
the leader of the quartet party, and the great player of his'
quartets, came to the composer and asked him to make a
slight alteration, I think only a note or two he wanted altered,
in one passage. He said, " This will make it perfectly easy,
and just as effective, but as it is it is almost unplayable,"
but Beethoven refused to listen to it at all. He simply said

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in the most contemptuous manner, " Do you suppose I think
about a pitiful fiddler when the Spirit speaks to me and I
write down what he says ? " It was just the same with the
Mass in D, the one which was performed the other night at
the Albert Hall. The solo parts as well as the chorus parts
lie very uncomfortably and distressingly high for the voice,
and the leading contralto singer came to the composer and
entreated him to change it, but he said, 44 If you cannot sing it
you can leave it alone ; I am not going to change it." In such
circumstances composers have only themselves to thank if
their works are inadequately rendered. That question of
writing what is comfortable and satisfactory to the players is
far too much overlooked by composers in general, but I will
not say anything more, for I am sure there are some other
members who will be glad to say something with regard to
Mr. Shedlock's paper.

Mr. G. A. Osborne. — I was living in Paris at the time
of Castil Blaze, and I know that at that time he was very
much talked about, and very much condemned for what he
was doing as regards music. You must remember that
Castil Blaze adapted his own works to music, and I know
that had it not been for what he set about doing, it is very
probable that many of the works which then saw the light
would not have been produced for a considerable time. He
took pieces out of the operas of different composers which
gave the public an opportunity of knowing something about
the music, although he did not bring out the entire opera.
He brought out several things where the music was by four
or five composers, and I very much doubt whether many of
the works, which afterwards were exceedingly well performed
would have been given so early in their entirety had it not
been that he gave the public a foretaste of what was to come
I remember also at that time there was a celebrated sculptor,
Danton, who brought out little statuettes of the different
composers, and he designed one of Castil Blaze riding upon
Weber, Rossini, and other artists, with his legs stretched
over them, and picking out ideas from their brains. This was
at the time he was bringing out these operas, and it shows
exactly in what estimation he was held. I have nothing
further to say about Castil Blaze, but as our Chairman and
Mr. Shedlock, who are old professors of the pianoforte, have
expressed their opinion as regards young ladies learning that
instrument, I may say also as a professor, I entirely agree
with everything that was said. I should say that to every
ten pupils out of twelve, if we could do so without injury to
our pockets, we would say, 44 For goodness' sake do not learn
music, for it is very few who really come to the front." Of
that we all have experience as masters, but at the same time
I should be very sorry to do so. I have never done so during

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my professional career except towards a very particular friend,
because if a lady wishes her daughter to learn, that is her
affair; and my business, which I have very cordially attended
to, was to put the money into my pocket, and do the best for
her at the same time. I must say that I entirely approve of
these people learning the piano, and for this one reason —
that they are not obliged afterwards to play upon it, and I
am sure we are all indebted to them for not doing so ; but
still, at the same time, although they cannot have excelled as
pianoforte players, they learn so much manipulation that they
can accompany a song at least, or even sit down and play a
little quadrille, so that it is not entirely lost upon them, and
if we had not a great number of pupils who are willing to
come to us for instruction what would become of all the
pianoforte makers ? Look at the great number of them that
there are. I myself derive some little benefit from pianoforte
manufacturers, it is very small no doubt ; but I should not
do it if we had not persons learning that instrument.
Therefore, although I agree entirely with what my friend the
Chairman has said about them, I am not at all prepared to
advocate that the young ladies of the future should give up
pianoforte playing.

Mr. W. H. Cummings. — I would not address you, Mr.
Chairman, except to most heartily dissent from what has
fallen from your lips, and from my friends Mr. Osborne and
Mr. Shedlock. I think it is very essential, this being an
age of education, that all young ladies and young gentle-
men should learn music, and I do not see how they are to
do it in any better way than by learning the pianoforte.
You may argue on the same ground that nature has not
given particular ability, that children should not learn
the multiplication table, because they have not a talent
for arithmetic, or that they should not use their legs.
Surely there is some small faculty for music in ninety-nine
children out of one hundred, and it is, I think, the duty of a
parent to have his child's talent cultivated, such as it is at
all events ; it may not lead to any very great result, but at
least it will have this effect, that whether children become
performers or no, they will in some measure have a capacity
to judge of the performance of others, and also, when they
hear great works performed, will have some sort of standard
by which to judge. Without the knowledge of language,
how is it possible for them to understand anything ? Sup-
pose a child is not to be an orator, and has not the gift of
speech, will you on that account not have it taught to read,
or not have it taught grammar ? If they do not learn the
language they will not be able to read a book. I maintain,
then, it is a duty, whether they have ability or no, to let
them learn. I am exceedingly sorry for pianoforte teachers,

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particularly Mr. Osborne, who proposes that those who have
no ability shall be taught sufficient to accompany some
unfortunate man in a song. I was under the impression
that to accompany a song required even more musicianship
than to play a pianoforte piece. I contend, then, that all
children should be taught. I sympathize with teachers ;
I know the importance of teaching and I know what
it is to have to deal with very poor material, but at the
same time I conscientiously say that I think it is my
duty to do the best I can with my pupil. If a pupil is
brought to me as a prodigy, and I am asked, M Will not
this young person some day be a Patti or a Sims Reeves ?"

I say honestly, " No, I think not ; I think you had better
spare your money, and keep it in your pocket if that is
your object, but if a child is brought to me to be taught
music I think it my duty to do the best I can. Of course, I
express my opinion whether those abilities are good or no.
As to Rossini, I am surprised at hearing of Rossini's music
being sung as he wrote it. Mr. Shedlock said he wrote out
all the ornaments, but, I ask, did you ever hear a song of
Rossini's sung as he wrote it ? I never heard one by
any of the greatest singers yet. Costa was a friend of
Rossini's, but I never heard a song which he had taught,
by Rossini, sung as the composer wrote it. Then
again, there may be some places where alterations are
made in the text by the singer — supposed to be by the
singer — where the singer really has the authority of the
composer ; and I would mention one circumstance which
comes to my mind, in order that at some future time the
unfortunate singer may not be spoken of in the daily prints
as a transgressor. At the end of the Quando corpus in the

II Stabat Mater," Rossini desired that it should be a major
third, not a minor. I have always sung it so, having been told
by Costa that Rossini himself wished it so. As to the matter
of additional accompaniments, I quite agree with my friend
Mr. Prout, that it is quite impossible to reproduce accompani-
ments as they were intended by the composer, but our duty
is to approximate as nearly as we possibly can. And for my
own part, I think, in most works, certainly of Sebastian
Bach, if you substitute the organ where you have the basso
continuo, you do what he wanted. It is quite plain to my
mind, at all events, that in the churches he had not a
harpsichord, but an organ. I remember the other day, at
a performance of the "Christmas Oratorio" which I had
something to do with, the basso continuos were accompanied
on the organ, and had, I think, the very best representation
of Sebastian Bach I know of in this way, Franz's accompani-
ments ; but I read in a criticism, soon afterwards, that it
was a great pity we did Bach without performing the

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accompaniments as intended by Sebastian Bach, and that
there were no accompaniments to the figured bass ! It is
very hard for singers, for conductors, and for people
generally, who endeavour to do well by Art, if all the
endeavours they make to produce works as they were
intended are simply met by a sort of prepared criticism
falling foul of all they do. I think, in these days at least, the
endeavours of artists, singers, or conductors, is to do works as
they were intended, as nearly as possible, by the composer.

Mr. W. H. Monk. — Can Mr. Cummings tell us how it was
Rossini wrote the minor third instead of the major ?

Mr. W. H. Cummings.— Possibly he liked it better at first,
and changed his mind afterwards. I cannot tell you.

Major Crawford. — We have heard the opinion of several
eminent professors, and I would only say, as one who is not
a professor, but who is interested in the question of teaching
children, having some of my own who are learning music, that
I perfectly agree with what Mr. Cummings has said, that in
early life, at any rate, every child ought to learn music. If
in after life you find that there is no musical taste, then I
agree with Mr. Shedlock, let teaching stop, but I have known
instances myself where the musical taste, which has been
dormant at first, has subsequently developed ; and, at any
rate, even where mechanical proficiency has not been
obtained, there has been acquired a knowledge of music
which is perfectly sufficient to give the child pleasure in after
life, and to enable him or her to go to concerts with a mind
in a state to appreciate what they hear. But I maintain that
a great deal of the harm which has been done, has been
done not by teaching them music, but by teaching them
bad music to begin with. You take children in too
many families, and give them what is called a school
piano to begin with — you know what sort of instrument of
torture that is — in place of having their ears trained from
the commencement on the best piano in the house — that is
my way, at any rate — train their ears as perfectly as possible,
and then train their fingers. Above all, give them good music
suitable to their age, let them go on to easy pieces, and we
have easy pieces by the best masters, by Joseph Haydn and
by Beethoven. Let them begin with good music, let their
minds be fed on the best materials, and you will find after-
wards that even if they are not burning and shining lights
as executants, they will be intelligent auditors. With regard
to additional accompaniments, I think sufficient has been
said to show that it is utterly impossible to reproduce old
works as they were intended to be performed, unless,
perhaps, Broadwood or Erard would make a harpsichord
for the purpose if they could, but perhaps they could
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known a great deal of what has been going on in the musical
world, and I see a marked change for the better. The public
will not now put up with the trash that used to be given
them, and the maltreatment to which important works were
often subjected. A good many of Mr. Shedlock's remarks, I

could do again what Sir Henry Bishop thought fit to do in
his day. Of course it is very amusing to read what happened
in those days, and if you will look at Henry Phillip's recol-
lections you will see some very amusing accounts of the
production of "DerFreyschutz" in England. I remember, also,
«ven when things were not so bad, there was still a good deal
of illegitimate alteration made. I remember the production of
41 Oberon " at the Italian Opera with some of " Euryanthe "
introduced into it. I do not think that can be done now. In
the same way, in church music, I have observed within the
last ten or twelve years a marked improvement in the style
of music introduced into churches. Of course there are
exceptional cases such as that Mr. Prout has mentioned, but
a great number of new books have come under my notice,
and I observe generally there seems to be a higher standard
aimed at, at any rate, if not always obtained ; therefore, I
think we may hope.

Mr. W. H. Monk. — I cannot resist the opportunity, sir,
of supplying one instance of maltreatment which Mr.
Shedlock tells me he did not mention (for I came in a few
minutes after the lecture began). I allude to the opening
chorus in Weber's " Oberon," " Light as fairy foot can fall."
The frequent introduction of this melody into the collections
of hymnody with which we still continue to be flooded is
most remarkable, and I may mention my own experience,
that while the various editions of the work of which I am the
editor, " Hymns Ancient and Modern," were passing through
the press, no melody was more frequently sent to me by
amateur contributors than this chorus. It seems to be the
favourite melody, secular or sacred, of the day, and so far am
I unable to share the happy prognostications of our friend
who spoke last, that I happen to have made acquaintance
with a work of serious character, by a rising young musician,
having for its object the Passion of our Lord, interspersed
with metrical compositions selected from well-known tunes,
in order that the audience may do as they have happily learnt
to do in Bach's Passion of St. Matthew, make themselves
participators in the performance. For one of the metrical
hymns written for the purpose, this chorus is introduced,
and the whole was published within the last month. A
copy was sent to me by the author, and I ventured to utter
my protest, and to beg him to make a change. Whether
he will do so I do not know.

think, belong to the past.

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Now I am speaking, I shall venture, as an old teacher, to
make one remark on the teaching question. I think our
music-teaching friends, particularly our pianoforte-teaching
friends, would do infinite service if they could turn their
pupils' attention to the art of reading rather than to the art
of manipulating well-known works. Then we should have,
possibly, a race of young ladies who would be able to play
accompaniments, and notably to play their own accompani-
ments. I, as a teacher of singing, have constantly to lament
that three-fourths of my difficulties arise from the impossibility
of getting an accompaniment played. I am constantly in the
habit of knowing that classical songs of the great masters
cannot be sung from the want of the power of the pupil to
play the accompaniment. I think if our pianoforte friends
would come to our assistance here it would do great good.

Mr. Foster. — I did not quite hear whether Mr. Shedlock
touched on one question connected with this important
subject — the result of laziness more than ignorance — I mean
the maltreatment of church music. I do not know whether
he complained at all of the singing of the melody of hymn
tunes two octaves below the proper pitch, a thing one suffers
from very much ; and their maltreatment, by ladies more
particularly, who find that a third is a very safe sort of
interval below the melody, and sing throughout at that
distance, and then, to add a little insult to the injury,
call it " singing seconds."

Mr. Praeger. — I must say I was rather astonished to find
amongst musicians so low an estimate of music-teaching as
to touch upon it merely as a mode of making money (which
honest people are obliged to do some way or other), and not
to look at the holy mission which it is. Without the slightest
reference to any dogmatic or theological question, music has a
holy mission to represent the noblest aspiration and ideality of
the human mind, and, as far as I have understood this, seems
to have been totally overlooked. I should be exceedingly sorry
that boys and girls should learn music merely as a luxury, in
order to show that so much money had been spent on them —
a rich merchant told me once that his daughter's musical
education had cost him ^"1,000 guineas, and yet she played
miserably. Music is so grand, so noble, so holy a thing to me,
that I consider the teaching of it as one of those things that
ennoble a man who does it with all his heart, as he should
do it. The mere execution is nothing at all. We have had
great musicians who could play but indifferently. Richard
Wagner was a bad pianist. Berlioz could only accompany
with two fingers. Execution is not the chief thing ; nor does
a fine voice make a good singer. It is the soul that ought
to be considered first in teaching. I must tell you I take
delight in teaching even very young children. I teach their

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The Maltreatment of Music. 121

mammas, and endeavour to infuse into both a love and
understanding of music. I make them like music, not by
forcing Haydn or Beethoven, or other big names on them,
but by showing them that there is something in music which
expresses their own feelings. It may be that, according to
their intelligence, they never rise higher than a certain
mediocrity, but I ever endeavour to make them understand
the soul that there is in music, and that it represents their
own individual feelings. The higher the intelligence the better
you are off. There are some people that read Shakespeare
and cannot understand a word of it ; but is that a reason that
they should not have learnt to read, and thus be able to
comprehend lesser works ? All people cannot be heroes, nor
can all be great musicians, but it is a duty to teach every one
music as a matter of education. Education, not in the sense
of showing off, or of saying that so much money has been
spent, or that they belong to a certain class. But the
unfortunate thing is that the teaching of music is begun
always at the wrong end. For fifty years, since I have been
in England, I have been trying to teach people that they
should learn to sing first. Let little children at the tenderest
age begin to sing (and there is a movement in that direction
now), let them understand something about the meaning of
music, but for heaven's sake do not let them believe that,
because their fingers go fast, they are musicians. This is
what I wanted to point out. The noble mission of music
is to express all human feelings, and this should be taught
in such a manner that little children could understand, which
I firmly believe could be done in all cases. I take quite
little babies — i.e., little children between seven and eight — and
I teach them with the greatest delight, but you must teach
them according to their understanding. I teach them to
play little tunes, and I explain to them that that little tune in
the minor expresses some feeling of sorrow, and that when
you break your doll you feel like that, and I find that
their fathers and uncles, men well to do in the city, and
I might even name University science professors, never
thought so much about music until they heard their little
children tell them what I have taught them. As Luther
has said, next to religion music is the most divine thing on
earth.

Mr. G. A. Osborne.— I should say that Berlioz played the
flute very well ; he played a very difficult solo on the flute
when he was a young man, and also accompanied himself
with a guitar.

Mr. Blaikley. — I will not detain the audience one minute,
but Mr. Shedlock's comparison of music with the other arts
may, perhaps, I think, without appearing to add to him too
much, be carried a trifle further than he himself has done.

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The Maltreatment of Music.

In the case of sculpture and painting, the artist works, but
the vehicle for the expression of his thoughts is a material
substance, and in the course of its decay, the work of art must
of necessity perish, as Mr. Shedlock said, but I was hardly
able to follow him in speaking of music as decaying in the
same way. It seems to me, if I may venture to speak
amongst musicians — not being one myself— that what the
composer of music gives us is a written sign ; what the
sculptor gives us is the work of art complete. If, in the
composer's own time, the written or printed signs are
understood as he means them to be understood, his work of
art can be rendered as he intended it to be ; if the means of
rendering those signs be gone, by the decay of certain instru-
ments, or other matters which have been alluded to, then
his signs have lost some of their force to us ; but if we
could understand exactly what his signs meant, if he put
certain notes to be played on certain instruments, they
having certain qualities of tone, and if we had those qualities
of tone we could reproduce the work to the end of time, and
it would be imperishable. It seems to me it is a question of
reading in the case of music, as in the case of poetry and all
literature, so long as we can read the sign we have the
artistic work ; but in the case of painting and sculpture, the
artist's work is in the material, and when that perishes the
work of art is gone.

Mr. Shedlock. — I have only a very few words to add.
With regard to our Chairman, who spoke about " Oberon "
being played in Paris in an unmutilated form, I think it was
given for the first time in an unmutilated form in 1865, at
the Theatre Lyrique. I should have liked to know whether
the garbled version is still continued, having been announced
at Covent Garden in that form, or whether they play both
versions in Paris. I think Mr. Osborne was very noble in
trying to defend the doings of Castil Blaze. He might have
told us, too, that he did try to give " Der Freyschiitz " in an
unmutilated form, but it was a failure ; but by giving it in
his own form he made Weber's opera known in France, and
it was played 367 times. With regard to Mr. Cummings's
remark about the organ being used at the performance of the
Christmas oratorio, and suggesting that the person who
declared it was given without the organ accompaniment was
not present, I know it depends very much on where one sits
in St. James's Hall. I was present there that evening
myself, and at times the organ was heard most faintly, and
at one time I could not hear it at all ; and I know someone
else who was present at the same time, and whose experience
was similar. I need not notice many interesting remarks which
have been made, but I must just refer to the last observation
made with respect to the decay of music. I suggested that

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The Maltreatment of Music.

123

music decayed like other works — like wooden statues, and
golden statues, and so on. With regard to the death of
music as of other things, I pronounce no opinion. Music is
the youngest of the arts, and for all we know, perhaps in two
or three centuries, some works may be entirely dead.

The Chairman then proposed a vote of thanks to Mr.
Shedlock for his interesting paper, which was carried
unanimously.

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MAJOR CRAWFORD,
In the Chair.

May 5, 1884.

ON CERTAIN PRINCIPLES OF MUSICAL EXPOSI-
TION CONSIDERED EDUCATIONALLY AND
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CURRENT
SYSTEMS OF MUSICAL THEORY.

By Gerard F. Cobb, Esq., M.A.,

Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Chairman of the Board of Musical
Studies in the University of Cambridge, and late President of
the Cambridge University Musical Society,

PART I.

The term" Musical Exposition " may be taken to include all
the various means adopted for representing to others the work
of the musical brain, such as (1) The notation employed for
representing it to the eye, and thus stereotyping it for common
use ; (2) The vocal or instrumental processes by which it is
reproduced to the public ear, and eventually made to assume
in the brain of the listener the shape in which it originally
presented itself to the internal ear or musical imagination of
the composer ; and (3) The methods by which the arrange-
ment and assortment of sounds which we call music — that
manipulation, so to speak, of the elementary material at
command which constitutes composition — is explained,
justified, and taught to those who wish to learn it.

It is with this third division of the subject that this paper
will mainly deal, and its object will be to ascertain how far
the principles on which certain methods of musical instruction
now current are based are educationally sound ; how far, that
is, they meet those requirements the satisfaction of which
we are accustomed to regard as essential in other branches
of education.

Musical sounds may be considered under three aspects : —
(1) Their cause and mode of transmission. (2) Their
reception by our external sense, the ear. (3) Their effect,
after that reception, on our internal sense or musical feeling.

Much of the confusion which pervades what is written and
said. about music arises from the want of a clear and definite
demarcation of these three aspects of it, and from the pre-

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126 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition,

vailing use of an ambiguous nomenclature, by which the
terms which are used to express one set of phenomena are
also freely borrowed to express another, although the very
fact of transfer necessitates, as often as not, a change of
meaning. The result of this is obvious and widespread
equivocation ; and as it is of great importance to avoid this,
it will be desirable to dwell on this threefold division a few
moments longer, in order to make the terminology to be
adopted perfectly clear.

There can be no question as to the adjectives we should
employ in the first two cases. The cause of musical sound,
and the mode of its transmission, is a recognised branch of
physical science, and " physical " should be the term applied
to music in this aspect of it. The word " physiology," again,
has been universally adopted to represent those aspects of
the problem which are contributed by our own organism, so
far as that organism has revealed, or is revealing itself to
the persistent efforts of scientific observation. But there still
remains that hidden world of subtle processes of the brain
into which the light of science has not yet penetrated, and in
which what we call mind, will, and choice hold sway ; that
region into which sounds, which it is clear are both physically
created and physiologically received, are or are not permitted
to enter according as we allow or do not allow "our attention"
(as the phrase is) " to be arrested by them M ; and where even
those sounds which are permitted thus to enter produce, as
we know, different effects upon different persons, in spite
of the absolute identity of the physical and physiological
conditions which brought them there.

What adjective, then, shall we employ here ? Shall we
speak of 11 mental " music ? I venture to think not, for this
reason. The relationship of musical sounds has been made to
a very large extent a subject for mathematical calculation, and
has thus been submitted to a process of mental arithmetic, or
mental observation. If, therefore, we were to apply this word
" mental " to the inner phenomena of music, we should
expose ourselves to the dangers of equivocation. Shall we
adopt the phrase " aesthetic " ? Here, again, is a word
already applied in another and narrower sense, not to what
may be called our "tonal" impressions of music (which is,
strictly speaking, the only subject with which musical science
ought to concern itself), but to certain vaguer resultant
impressions, or rather emotions, which are connected with
other than purely tonal feeling.

"Psychology" or "psychics" are words extensively used
to designate those phases of human activity with which
physiology is as yet unable to deal, and as it is the "physics"
of music, rather than its " physiology," to which most frequent
reference will be made, and the. relations of which to our

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 127

inner musical sense it is most important to determine, we shall
find "psychics" and " psychical" the words most serviceable
for our purpose.

Now the domain of physics is entirely external to us ;
its province, therefore, is, so far, accurately determined ; and
its boundaries can never be enlarged, however much our
knowledge of the operations of sound within them may be
added to; but the respective domains of psychics and
physiology, on the other hand, must ever be mutually
variable; they will go on changing in inverse proportion,
so to speak. The mountaineer, as he climbs at early dawn
the side of one of those gigantic hills which form the banks
of a Swiss glacier, sees the ice river below him cold, dull,
and lustreless, silently awaiting the approach of the golden
sunlight as it comes stealing down the hillside opposite.
Soon it touches the base, and a band of light is seen like a
silver fringe along the glacier brink; sunshine takes the
place of shadow, and as each little ice-rivulet unseals itself
in the glow, sound takes the place of silence. Slowly, so
slowly as to be imperceptible to continuous observation, the
bright band broadens, lessening at each moment the pro-
portion of shadow to sunlight, until in due time the wave
of light has spread to the opposite bank, and the whole
breadth of glacier sparkles and sings in the glad warmth
of day. Just so, we may fancy, with the same slow, imper-
ceptible, yet certain march, will physiology continue to invade
that vast "dark continent," that occult and apparently
impenetrable empire of psychics, adding to its own domain
by subtracting from that of the other. Physiology must
increase, psychics decrease.

But, as yet, as regards music, the light of our physiological
sun has barely descended the hillside ; it has not even
touched the night-bound glacier of musical psychics.

The most obvious, and the most elementary phenomenon
we have to deal with in music is the fact that some persons
can distinguish musical sounds whilst others cannot, that
one man has " a musical ear " and another has not ; and
on this very rudimentary point physiology (I am stating
this on the authority of Professor Michael Foster, one
of the most eminent, if not the most eminent, of living
physiologists) has as yet no light to shed. It has hitherto
entirely failed to discover any difference between the ear
of the musician and the ear of the non-musician. The
structure and action of the basilar membrane, of the
protoplasmic cells with which it communicates, and the
arches which support them, are in all cases uniform.
The inference about 11 the harp of a thousand strings,"
which was adopted by physicists in the first enthusiasm
of a new discovery, and which has been reproduced in

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128 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition,

musical works (as e.g., Mr. John Curwen's "Musical Statics,"
p. 10), has since proved to be premature and delusive.
The distinction, therefore, between a musical and a non-
musical ear, in other words the process by which we are
made sensible of a difference in the pitch of the sounds which
are presented to us, is still one ot the occult elements we
have to deal with ; it resides in the brain, not in the ear ;
it is a psychical, not a physiological difference ; it is an
operation of our inner, not of our outer sense, call it soul,
mind, feeling, or what you will. It is clear, then, that if
physiology cannot determine this elementary point for us,
it can as yet play very little part in our investigations. In
fact its share in the three-fold problem may for the present
be regarded as "a constant quantity," and, therefore, on all
questions as between psychics and physics may be neglected.

We have then really only two things to deal with, psychical
music and physical music. The external phenomena of music
have of late years most happily attracted the notice of some
of the ablest physicists of the century, and their operations
in that field have been rewarded with results of the greatest
possible value. As Chairman of the Board of Musical
Studies in a University which demands of those who
would receive a Degree in music some knowledge of those
results, I should be the last person to wish to depreciate
them. On certain points of great importance to the practical
musician they throw a light which Mr. Ellis in the preface
to his translation of Helmholtz most justifiably characterises
as "indispensable." Everyone will be ready to admit that
between two sounds identical in pitch and volume, a difference
of effect is discernible varying with the different conditions
of their production. That effect we call the " quality " of
sound, and it has been one of the special triumphs of the
science of acoustics to reveal its accompanying conditions.
When the psychical musician says : " I have such and such
a tonal effect before me in imagination, and I want to convey
that effect to others, to notify it on paper, and to realise it in
instrumental production," the physical musician is ready to
say to him : " These are the modes in which the effects you
desire to produce are producible ; they have been physically
tested, by synthetic as well as analytic methods ; you have
only to adopt the rules we lay down, and you may rest
assured of the result." There is indeed a whole world of
psychical effects connected not only with the quality of
isolated tones, but with the different results produced by
varying the positions of the same tones when taken in com-
bination, the physical causes of which have been most care-
fully investigated and accurately determined ; and the thanks
of all musicians are due to those men of science who,
whether themselves musicians or not, have in these and

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 129

other matters rendered such practical service to the Art.
But to describe the means whereby differences of effect are
produced and producible is one thing, to explain what may
be termed preferences of effect is quite another, and if I shall
be found in the course of this paper to adopt a somewhat
sceptical, not to say antagonistic, attitude to positions which
of late years physical music has been made in certain
quarters to assume, it will be because it would seem that this
very vital distinction has been temporarily lost sight of; in
simple language, because it is too readily assumed that
because such and such tonal results are shown to be pro-
duced by such and such physical causes, therefore, we are
in duty bound in all cases to like them. The influence of
this assumption is all the more insidious and difficult to
combat because it is seldom clearly realised, and still more
seldom definitely expressed by those who, nevertheless, have
practically adopted it, and whose musical theories, unless
logically based upon it, merely " beat the air." The physi-
cists themselves, from their habits of patient observation
and accurate induction, have for the most part abstained
from any marked employment of it, and in fact in some most
notable cases have denounced it in the most emphatic terms.
It is mainly musicians who have elaborated the theories in
which this assumption most plainly betrays itself; and it is
also a fact worth noting that such theories have been far
more systematically propounded and tenaciously held in our
own country than in any other, and that they find little or no
countenance in the country of that pre-eminent physicist to
whose researches our knowledge of physical music is so
largely due.

The chief facts presented to us in physical music which
are relevant to our subject are (1), the composite nature of
most musical sounds, which contain, in addition to the one
characteristic tone by which (in composite equally as in
simple sounds) we distinguish one note from another, other
higher tones, called indifferently overtones, upper-partials,
or Harmonics. There is no occasion here to describe the
method of their production, or to give the history of their
discovery; but as it may presently be necessary to refer to
this or that member of the series. We will here give those
of the note C with the numbers below them : —

ZEE

= 2 3 ^ g 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

2 octaves higher^ — - „

^ -jS- ^rtS - ^^ 2^22^23 24

re 17 is 19 — " ' 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

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130 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

A most unfortunate use of language (according to which
the term " Harmonics " has come to be almost universally
applied to these additional or upper tones in contradistinction
to the Generator which is described as producing them) has
rendered the numeration here given, strictly speaking, in-
accurate ; but this departure from accuracy is amply justified
by its practical advantage, inasmuch as the system of
numbering Harmonics thus obtained tallies exactly with the
numerical relationship of the vibrations creating them ; what is
popularly called the first Harmonic having twice, the second
three times, and the third four times the vibration number of
the note itself. If, then, instead of calling them the first, second,
and third Harmonics, we call them, as in the list given, the
second, third, and fourth, we shall be always reminded of the
relationship existing between the vibration number of any one
member of the series and that of any other including the
first. All confusion would disappear if we could only bring
ourselves to use the word " Harmonics " with a resolute
reference to the fact that what we call the ground note is as
much a "partial" or "Harmonic" of a composite tone or
clang as any other member of the series ; and if we could, at
the same time, eradicate from our minds the erroneous idea
of cause conveyed in the word " Generator." The only thing
the Generator generates is itself. It is, strictly speaking, only
one member of a series of co-ordinate causes and effects, the
other members accompany it, but are not produced by it.
M Harmonics," then, are the first fact we have to deal with,
and in referring to them I shall indicate them by the numbers
given above, in which the ground note is considered the
first of the series. Our (2) second fact is the existence of
additional sounds, which result under certain conditions from
the sounding of two or more notes at once, and from the
relations of their overtones. These are known as Combination
Tones, whether differential or summational. And (3), lastly,
we have the phenomena of Beats and Interferences. Now,
these three facts — (1) Harmonics; (2) Combination Tones;
(3) Beats — are facts of Nature, operating (regardless of our
consent or control) according to natural laws— laws which
have the same character of fixity and universality as that of
gravitation. But beyond these facts again physical music
presents to us certain other matters over which, in a certain
sense, we have control. These deal mainly with the relative
pitch we are supposed to give to notes when we create them
for ourselves, whether by singing, whistling, or the employ-
ment of instruments. According to the physical musician
we are supposed to divide our scale into intervals on certain
fixed principles of measurement physically demonstrable, and
having a greater or less degree of reference to some of those
absolute physical laws just alluded to. Thes,e intervals are

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 131

adjusted either (as in the case of Pythagoras) by the actual
measurement of linear distance on a vibrating string, and its
division into aliquot parts, or by the finer mental processes of
exact computation of vibration ratios. I am not now raising
the question of whether the psychical scale (that is the scale
which musicians prefer) does or does not correspond with
these physical spales (though as these physical scales have
more forms than one it is clear that it cannot correspond
with all of theni) ; I only call attention to the fact that these
scales have a pnysical rather than a psychical history ; they
are, in fact, arrangements which can be made on geometrical
and arithmetical principles, quite independently of their
psychical effect, by an unmusical equally as by a musical
brain ; and they form what we may perhaps best describe as
the mathematical branch of musical physics. One of our
Vice-Presidents, Mr. William Chappell, in a paper read here
on November 5, 1877, expressed his view of the bearings of
this division of musical physics with summary significance
when he observed that although music was generally
thought to be a very difficult subject, it was in reality a
very simple one, 44 being purely a science of numbers." Such
then are the facts of physical music which mainly concern us,
and we have now to consider their bearing on practical music,
and the use which has recently been made of them to
explain it.

It will be necessary first (in order to obtain a correct
view of the question) to allude to one prominent psychical
fact, that of Tonality. So far as I am aware no musical
theorist, certainly none of those of whose zeal in applying
physics to psychics we shall presently have proof, will
dispute that, for us Europeans of this century, it is psychically
essential that the tones and harmonies of which a musical
phrase consists should present (I am abridging the words
of Helmholtz, see Ellis's Translation, page 383) a continuous
and distinctly perceptible relationship to some one arbitra-
rily selected note which we call the Tonic. If this
be not granted it will be idle to proceed further. The
science of musical psychics then may be defined as the
endeavour to ascertain and to describe the notes and
the combinations of notes which can be used in more or
less intimate, but always distinguishable and agreeable
relationship to the one note which we take for our tonic.
Whenever this relationship ceases to be discernible, we find
not indeed that music ceases, and that we are drifting into a
chaos of disconnected sounds, but that we have established
or are establishing a similar series of relationships with some
other note. We have, in fact, a new tonic, or, in still more
familiar language, we have changed our key. But inasmuch
as the relationships thus established with the new tonic are

K 2

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132 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

precisely similar to those previously established with the old
tonic, any description or classification of them would be
simply " a vain repetition." For all purposes of scientific
inquiry, therefore, psychical music may be assumed to deal
with one note or tonic only, from which, as a unit, our
musical series is evolved, and to which, in its ultimate
analysis, it must return. Moving continuously up or down
from this note we come at length to a point in the series of
sounds at which, not the actual sounds, but the relationships
between those sounds exactly reproduce themselves; this
point we call the octave of the tonic, and though the term
involves the perfectly arbitrary and incorrect assumption that
it is the eighth available musical tone we come to, it is too
well established to be open to criticism. Between these two
points, the tonic and its octave, a number of perfectly distinct
musical sounds — (we need not now stay to inquire exactly
how many) — are producible by vocal or instrumental means.
Those of them which we employ to make music with we
call our Scale, and musical theory has to determine what
notes these are, and what combinations of them can be used
without sacrificing our sense of Tonality, or, in other words,
substituting a new tonic for the one we started with. This
will, I trust, be considered a fair statement of the main
probfem of musical psychics, and we have to inquire what
use has been made of musical physics to solve it.

There can be no question that the most vigorous use has
recently been made of the first of our three physical facts —
viz., Harmonics, to account for the psychical scale and for
psychical chords ; and this is not to be wondered at. Until
the acoustic phenomena of music attracted the attention of
physicists and mathematicians, musical theories had been
mainly devised by those who had not had the advantage of
that severe mental training, or acquired those habits of
accurate observation and logical induction which are essential
to an adequate treatment of a scientific subject. The
phenomena of psychical music demand even more careful
and discriminating methods of investigation than those of
physical music, inasmuch as being psychical, they are of
their very nature occult and recondite, and are incapable of
being submitted to those tests of corroborative testimony —
i.e., the testimony of other senses than the one which is
immediately concerned with them— by which the results of
physical investigation are proved and reproved, demonstrated
and redemonstrated, until all possibility of questioning their
validity is removed. The phenomena of physical music can
be calculated by arithmetic, felt by the finger, heard through
the resonator, scrutinised under the microscope, measured
with a foot-rule, tested by the electric spark. We can bring
no such formidable apparatus of cross-examination to bear

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 133

upon the field of psychic effects. Nevertheless, those effects
can be observed, noted, and classified, both individually and
in their relations to one another, if only they be submitted to
the same kind of skilled mental scrutiny, the same patient
processes of observation and analysis, which are bestowed
upon physical subjects. But the habits of mind required for
such a task as this are the result of special education, such
as few of our musicians have hitherto had the advantage of ;
they are but rarely nature's free gift, and are less likely
perhaps to be found so bestowed in conjunction with the
musical temperament than with any other. It need therefore
be no matter of surprise, still less of reproach, if musical
theories should have sometimes proved to be the very
opposite of that which from an educational point of view we
should desire them to be. We need not wonder if they
should have been found to contain hasty and partial generali-
sations, the inadequate character of which is sufficiently
evidenced by the fact that nearly every important step in the
march of musical development has been taken in the teeth of
them, and that the history of nearly every chord and
progression in which we now take such unequivocal delight
contains its chapter of persecution and ostracism at the
hands of the reigning theory. We need not wonder if their
vocabulary should be found to be cumbrous, obscure, con-
tradictory', and their canons so buried under the irrepressible
growth of exceptions as to assume the position of being far
more honoured in breach than in observance. Under these
circumstances, then, it is by no means unnatural that the
important discoveries of Helmholtz and other physicists
should have been welcomed as a kind of beacon light on a
midnight sea of confusion, and that musical theorists should
have been irresistibly drawn to them as furnishing a new and
more hopeful method of treating the subject.

I need not detain you long with the proof that this step
has been taken, nor enumerate anything like all the cases in
which the physics of music have been so applied. I am
concerned more with the principles than with the details of
such application.

Starting with my own University, by way of beginning at
home, I find our Professor, in his six lectures on harmony
delivered before the Royal Institution in the spring of 1867,*
speaking of modern music in these terms : —

P. 94 : " The phenomenon that every musical sound
generates others is the basis of the free style of harmony."

On page 97 and elsewhere, we find this phenomenon
applied to an ingenious reconciliation of things new and old.
Old theory said, " Discords must be prepared " ; modern

* The third edition (Longmans, 1882) is always referred to.

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134 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

musical experiment had ascertained that in the majority
of cases no very disastrous results ensued from their
not being prepared. Which was to give way — the old rule,
or the new practice ? Or was the rule to meet the traditional
fate of most other rules of the kind, and be gradually smothered
into practical extinction under the weight of accumulated
exceptions ? No, says the Professor, neither need give way ;
nor need there be any exceptions to the rule. These discords
are prepared ; they are already included by nature in the
prime note or root of the chord. " The artificial preparation
or foresounding of a dissonant note to mitigate its harshness
is superseded by the affinity of the generated discord to its
cognate sounds" (p. 97). In the terser language of Dr. Day
'A Treatise on Harmony," by Alfred Day; Cramer, Beale
Co., London, 1845, p. 51): "Diatonic discords require
preparation, because they are unnatural ; chromatic do not,
because they may be said to be already prepared by nature."

On page 98 we read : " The notes selected from the
harmonic series for the use of the musician constitute what
may be called fundamental chords, since these chords have
a tonal foundation which is indeed the source of every note in
their various ramifications."

Again, on page 122: "I must repeatedly remind you of
the natural origin of fundamental chords — the chords, I mean,
that are composed of the harmonic notes generated, according
to the eternal laws of sound, by the fundamental roots which
are available in each key."

In the Table of Definitions prefixed to the Professor's
Text Book, "The Rudiments of Harmony" (Cramer,
Beale & Co., London, i860), "Fundamental Discords" are
defined for the student as "formed of the notes generated
according to the natural system of Harmonics," and are
spoken of as "requiring no preparation," a "therefore"
being clearly implied as the connecting link of the two
statements.

Turning back to the Lectures, we have explanations
given us in their turn ; (1) of the chord of the dominant
seventh as supposed to be furnished by a seventh Harmonic
(page 97) ; (2) of the chord of the ninth as given by the
seventeenth Harmonic (page 134) ; (3) of the chord of
the eleventh as " our next interval of the Harmonic series "
(page 162) ; and lastly (4) of the chord of the minor thirteenth
as " the next note in trie series to the eleventh " (page 174).
The numerical indices of these last two Harmonics are not
given us. Were the Professor speaking of what are popularly
understood among us to be elevenths and (minor) thirteenths,
the notes — that is, the vibration numbers of which are twice
those of the perfect fourth and minor sixth of the scale we
use, it would be pertinent to observe that the physical

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 135

musician knows nothing of any Harmonics giving those notes
in any octave, and that their existence would itself be a
violation of that law of arithmetical ratio by which the series
of Harmonics has been ascertained to be governed. But it
is subsequently made clear (see page 221) that the Professor
considers that our existing elevenths and thirteenths are not
what they ought to be, that our preference for them is some-
thing "abnormal," and that their "true" pitch can only be
determined by a reference to the vibration numbers of
(apparently) the twenty-second and thirteenth Harmonics.

There is yet a further development of this theory which
should be alluded to, that, namely, which introduces us to
chords having " double roots." I believe it is to the late
Dr. Day that we are indebted for this most bizarre product
of the theoretic fancy ; at any rate, no earlier theorist has yet
been brought forward to compete his claims ; but whatever
its origin, Professor Macfarren adopts it in full, and states it
in almost the identical words used by Dr. Day himself.

Turning to the sister University, I find that our President,
Sir Frederick Ouseley, the year after the delivery of Sir
George Macfarren's Lectures, followed suit with a " Treatise
on Harmony " (Clarendon Press, 1868), in which there is an
undercurrent of the same general principles, though their
application, perhaps, is a trifle less systematic and pro-
nounced. We are told, for instance, at the opening of
Chapter II. (page 14), that "the origin of harmony must be
sought in natural phenomena," and this statement is promptly
followed by a paradigm of Harmonics. On page 56 a more
extended table of Harmonics is given us, with the significant
injunction to the student " to study it and copy it, as upon it
all our superstructure will be built." On page 66 the same
Harmonics are applied to, to furnish "the origin of the minor
mode." On page 74 we are referred to the table for " the
minor ninth as the seventeenth Harmonic." And, finally, on
on pp. 123 — 4, we have an exposition of the double-root
theory, with the full and comprehensive character of which,
at any rate, his brother Professor is, no doubt, amply
satisfied, despite a slight disagreement between the two as to
its application. And that this system of physical explanation
is still in high favour at Oxford, I have recently learnt from
the contents of a lecture delivered by the Professor in the
Sheldonian, on the 4th of March, 1884, the manuscript of
which he most kindly forwarded to me for perusal.

Another set of Royal Institution Lectures delivered a
decade later, and since published under the title of " The
Philosophy of Music," by Dr. William Pole of Oxford
(Triibner & Co., London, 1879), differs very materially from
the books just quoted. In many passages of his extremely
valuable work (see especially Chapters XVI. and XVII.), Dr.

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136 On Certain Principles . / Musical Exposition.

Pole used very significant language indeed as to these
attempts to find an explanation of our musical system in the
immutable laws of nature, and in much of what is to follow
I shall be found to be really following in his wake, though,
as I venture to think, with a somewhat less devious and
hesitating tread. Still, even he is not wholly free from
suspicion in the matter. For instance, he speaks (on pp.
228 and 245) of the tonic triad as " having a direct natural
origin " owing to the notes of which it consists being
" prominent partials of every brilliant musical sound," which,
if words have any meaning, must imply more than that it
merely has a counterpart in nature. Again, on page 230, after
speaking of this natural origin, he says : " It follows from this
that the most natural and satisfactory position of the common
chord is with the root at the bottom," language which, if
taken in its full significance, really concedes the principle
that psychical music is derived and determined by physical.
But I feel sure these are only slips on Dr. Pole's part, and
that his real views are adverse to the existence of any such
connection.

But if Dr. Pole's countenance of this position is only
transitory and inadvertent, it is far otherwise with another
Oxford writer on the same subject, Mr. J. M. Capes, M.A.,
of Balliol College. His Essay "On the Growth of the
Musical Scale and of Modern Harmony " (Novello & Co.,
1876), is, to use his own words (p. 10), an attempt "to show
the intelligent lover of music that the rules of modern
harmony are founded on the unchangeable facts of natural
musical sound." " In the composite nature of every single
musical tone " he has endeavoured (Preface, p. vii'.),
we are told, " to detect the origin of the musical scale."
Again (p. 17), he says, 11 In the great overlooked fact
of the composite nature of every musical sound, I perceive
the actual origin of the major scale and the explanation
of the mysterious growth of the musical art from Palestrina
to Beethoven." "The settlement of conflicting theories
of temperament," he tells us (Preface, p. vii.), "can
only be attained by a resolute reference to this fact, that
no single musical sounds exist, or ever can exist, and
the aim of the theorist of the future should be to reconcile
the necessities of key-relationship in the structure of
harmony, with the undeniable truths of atmospheric
movement." Let it be understood at once that I only refer
to this book as evidence of the prevalence of these theories,
for when it is mentioned that, according to Mr. Capes's notion
of " the necessities of key- relationship in the structure of
harmony," the chord of the diminished seventh " as written .
in the key of C" (I am quoting his exact words, p. 118) is
the chord —

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 137

and, further, that one of his " undeniable truths of atmospheric
movement " is that Harmonics are themselves compound and
not simple tones (see p. 40, sec. 38), you will hardly expect
either psychical or physical musicians to regard him as an
accredited representative.

Among the sturdy opponents of these physical ex-
planations, it is a pleasure to me to be able to reckon so
well known a musician, and so tried and trusted an
educator, as my friend Dr. Stainer. In his " Treatise on
Harmony " (Novello & Co., 5th edition) he introduces, indeed,
the word " root," but (p. 17) is careful to tell us that he does
not use it in what may be termed a " botanico-musical "
sense, that is, as a u Generator," but in its previous un-
sophisticated sense, as meaning the bass or lowest note of
a chord in its first position. The root theory, as synonymous
with the fundamental discord theory, he rejects as signally
"unsuccessful." Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe that
he would have so readily adopted the system of chord
classification to be found in his Treatise, that, namely, of
piling up thirds on certain specially selected notes of the
scale, until its whole seven notes have been exhausted, save
for the unconscious and unrecognised influence of those
physical systems in connection, at any rate, with which
these elevenths and thirteenths have assumed their present
theoretical prominence.

I will only refer to three more instances. Returning to my
own University I have had the pleasure of reading a very
clear and carefully reasoned lecture by Dr. Gladstone,
delivered in London two years since, on " Triads, their
Relationship and Treatment " (Weekes & Co.). I find here a
similar undercurrent of reference to Harmonics, which are
called in to explain our scales, as well as some important
points of chord- relationship ; whilst a younger musical
graduate, of Cambridge, Mr. James Turpin, produced at the
March meeting of this Association last year a very interesting
paper on " The Practical Bearings of Acoustics," in which
the advance of musical art was held to be dependent upon
the zeal (see Proceedings, Mus. Assoc., 1882 — 83, p. 72)
with which musicians should pursue "their researches into
Nature's laws of sound," and should "try to discover"
therein " new foundations for new derivations " ; and by way
of setting us a laudable example of this indispensable zeal in
his own person, he proceeded to direct our attention to the
previously unnoticed fact that a chord of the major thirteenth
was furnished us by Nature's 27th Harmonic (pp. 78, 79).
Much that was in that paper dealt with an application of

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138 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition

physics, the legitimacy of which few would question — I mean
as to tone-quality, but their main introduction was with
reference to questions of chord-derivation.

Last, but not least, as illustrating the extent to which
these views have recently been diffused and insisted on,
Mr. Henry Banister has found it necessary in issuing the
eleventh edition of his most valuable and deservedly popular
handbook on music to insert an appendix in which the
classification of chords involved in the Fundamental Discord
Theory is given. He has inserted it, however, with a
significant absence of all attempt to explain or justify it.

Of the prevalence, then, of this system of physical inter-
pretation there can be no question. It now remains to
examine and appraise it. In so doing it is necessary to point
out first the fundamental propositions which form its basis;
the " postulates " of the system, as we may call them. As
was previously stated, these propositions, though logically
indispensable to the theories in question, have seldom been
consciously recognised, still less systematically formulated ;
if, therefore, they are now unveiled and thrown into relief in
their complete integrity, it must not be thought that I am
laying all, or even most of them, to the charge of this or that
theorist. These theories owe their existence far more to the
idea that they would form a convenient escape from a
previous state of deplorable confusion, than from any clear
recognition of the nature of the principles involved in them.
Their genesis, so to speak, is due more to a posteriori than to
a priori considerations. But in a scientific, or at least a
quasi-scientific subject like this, especially one which plays
such an increasingly important part in our educational
curriculum, no amount of supposed a posteriori convenience
can justify the toleration of a priori absurdity.

The attempt to establish a correspondence between
psychics and physics in music, assuming it to be successful,
involves the acceptance of one or other of the following
propositions : —

I. We like physical music because we prefer it, because,
in fact, out of the seventy or so distinguishable sounds pro-
ducible between a note and its octave, it presents us with
precisely those we should ourselves select for use.

II. We like it because it is part of the general order and
fitness of things that we should do so ; because, in fact, our
psychic sense has been so designed as to operate in perfect
correspondence with what is physically provided for us ;
because, in other words, we have been so created as to make
it impossible for us not to like it without doing violence to
our own nature.

III. We like it because from its constant presence around
us — its presence, that is, as Harmonics in nearly every musical

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 139

sound we hear — we have got so accustomed to it that we
prefer it to any other. It has a charm of familiarity for us
which is perfectly irresistible, and any variation from it we
resent as alien and uncongenial.

In more summary language, we like physical music either
(1) because we do like it, or (2) because we are born to like
it, or (3) because we have grown to like it. We like it either
{a) from choice , or (b) from necessity, or (c) from habit.

With the first proposition we need not here concern
ourselves, inasmuch as it concedes the whole point at issue.
If we like physical music from choice, then the logical basis
of our music is psychical and not physical, and if we succeed
in establishing a correspondence between it and physical
music, it is not one of cause and effect. It may present
coincidence, it cannot furnish causation ; it may illustrate,
but it cannot explain.

The second of the three alternative postulates, that of
natural necessity, can hardly be seriously entertained, one
would think, by any one, and yet in words at least it finds its
advocates. When Professor Macfarren, for instance, after
telling us (Lectures, pp. 221-2) that " the universal practice
of singers, players, instrument makers, and tuners " (in other
words, the practice of psychic music) " is to intonate "
certain notes differently from their "true Harmonic sound,"
proceeds to attribute our toleration of this departure from
nature's music to "an abnormal condition of the musical
sense," what is this but to assert that this psychical "pre-
varication" from physical "truth" is a violation of our
normal or better nature ? Or when Mr. Capes again (p. 64)
tells us that " we are so framed by nature " that when we hear
" two notes, of which the one is produced by a series of
atmospheric waves, moving twice, three times, four times,
five times, &c, as fast as those of the other sound, the mind,
affected by the ear, is satisfied," and that such a combination
of sounds "touches the heart of every man and woman
whose physical organisation is not more or less imperfect,"
what is this but to say that a correspondence between
psychics and physics in music is a natural necessity, and
that, wherever it fails, the failure is due to something defective
or abnormal in our musical sense ; some deflection, in fact,
from musical rectitude, some obliquity or even depravity of
ear which prevents our lending it to Nature's " Counsels of
perfection." The whole position has a semi-ethical, semi-
theological air calculated to provoke a smile of surprise, not
to say amusement, were it not for the extreme practical
importance of the theories which it has been thus invoked
to support.

You would hardly thank me for taking up your time in
recounting the many and obvious absurdities involved in this

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140 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition

second postulate. There are plenty of passages, in both the
works just quoted, which prove that this position, though find-
ing temporary expression for purposes of argument, has never
been fully and consciously held as an article of faith, still less
persistently defended or consistently applied by their authors.

We come then to the third postulate, that because these
natural sounds have always formed part of our musical
surroundings (so to speak), our ears have grown to like them,
and that in this sense it is only natural that psychical and
physical music should agree. This postulate demands a
comprehensive and careful investigation.

Let us for the present assume all that the logical necessities
of the case can possibly demand as regards the audibility of
this natural music. Let us, for instance, imagine that ever
since there was a human ear to listen to it, some Leviathan
Tuba Mirabilis has been sounding the 64-vibration C, in the
fulness of its twenty-seven Harmonics all the world over.
I say its twenty-seven Harmonics, not that I would grudge
it any more of the theoretically unlimited series, but because
the twenty-seventh is, I think, the highest to which we have
as yet been formally introduced as furnishing us with a so-
called fundamental discord — that, namely, of the major thir-
teenth to which Mr. Turpin called your attention last year.
The rest therefore lie beyond the scope of the argument, and I
should be loath to drag you unnecessarily, even in imagination
only, into that region which Mr. Capes, in one (p. 66) of his
144 pages devoted to the proof of the physical origin of our
music, most ingenuously and aptly describes as one in which
the series M becomes a hideous scream." To reproduce this
so-called 11 Nature's chord " on the piano up to its twenty-
seventh interval is, of course, impossible. But a four-handed
approximation to it, as far as the fourth octave or sixteenth
Harmonic, is obtainable —

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 141

and may be made trial of by those who feel disposed to make
the experiment.

Now it may indeed be said that the chord as thus played on
the piano is not, even as far as it goes, an exact representa-
tion of the chord as sounded by Nature. We may be told that
the intervals are not correct to begin with, and that the fifth,
seventh, eleventh, and fourteenth Harmonics, as sounded
on an equally-tempered instrument, are too sharp, whilst the
thirteenth, on the other hand, is too flat. We may also be
reminded that the chord as so played differs in point of
sonority from the physical chord, inasmuch as in the latter
there is a very marked diminution in the power with which
each successive member of the series is sounded. With
regard to the first point, if any one really supposes that that
combination of notes which is here given can be made to
produce a psychically satisfactory effect by being played on
a piano in which the peccant intervals have had the necessary
correction administered to them by the tuning hammer, he
is heartily welcome to that supposition, it will not affect the
argument in the least — whilst to those who would urge the
fact of nature's diminuendo it may fairly be pointed out
that it is logically essential to the theory in question that the
idea of this gradual evanescence of tone should be discarded,
for if our preference for some notes or combination of notes
over others is due to our familiarity with them as given us
by Nature, an adequate degree of sonority must be assumed,
otherwise the familiarity cannot be accounted for : moreover,
in the eyes of those who would insist on the importance of
this diminuendo, it ought to be as great a crime to use (as
we do in practical music) a chord of the seventh, in which the
top note should have the same volume of sound as the bottom,
as to alter the vibration distance of the interval itself. To
increase the relative tone of the seventh harmonic, ought in
fact to be as culpable a proceeding as to raise its relative
pitch. This is a view which we may safely take for granted
will never be maintained, however essential to theoretic con-
sistency. No doubt if this diminuendo were reproducible it
might mitigate the hideousness of the chord, but it would do
so at the expense of its audibility, that is, at the expense of
the theory itself. We do the theory, therefore, no injustice in
assuming, for the purposes of the argument, that the chord is
heard just as we might give it on the piano, throwing in (if
need be) the correction of the few notes of discrepant pitch
contained in it. Out of this chord, then, as out of a mine, we
are supposed to have unearthed the various groups of notes,
some taken from one section of the chord, and some from
another, which go to form the scale and the chords of psychical
music ; and, apart from this chord, as the natural origin from
which our music is derived, our brain must be supposed to

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142 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

be a musical blank, or at least to be musically passive. Now
can it really be imagined that if any one in this state of musical
passivity (that is, with a brain void of all previous musical
impressions) were to listen to this chord from now to dooms-
day he would ever be able to separate it into its component
parts, or even to say of how many individual sounds it
consisted, or to invent a notation to describe it, or in fact to
do anything whatever with it? Even if the very simplest
portion of it, the so-called common triad, consisting of the
fourth, fifth, and sixth Harmonics, could be presented to him
in an isolated form, apart from the rest of the chord, it is, to
say the least, extremely improbable that he would in his
supposed condition of musical inexperience be able to ascertain
that there were three distinct sounds in it and not one only.
This will, perhaps, be thought a strange thing to say, but it
should be remembered that with us the history of the chord
is synthetic not analytic ; our first musical impressions are
those of melody not of harmony, and it is from being
accustomed to hear these three notes melodically — i.e., apart —
in other words, because the chord has been first presented to
us in arpeggio, that when we come to hear it harmonically we
so easily recognise its tripartite character. But for the theory
we are combating it is, on the contrary, necessary to assume
that this process is reversed, that it is analytic and not
synthetic, that harmony in fact existed before melody, that
we derive the component factors from the compound, and not
that we recognise the composite character of the compound
from first knowing the component factors. It is like supposing
that a child could find out that the compound number 64 was
8 times 8 before he had been taught his simple numbers, and
had learnt that 8 times 8 make 64. This then is the first
great difficulty in the way of determining the origin of psychic
music by reference to the Harmonic chord.

But, the theorist may reply, you are forgetting that Nature
does give us her chord in arpeggio, as, for instance, in the
open notes of the horn, and it is to this Melodic rather than
to the Harmonic form of the chord that we may fairly look for
the origin of our musical system. If, however, this be after
all what was meant, it is very certain that the modes of
expression hitherto employed to convey that meaning have
been singularly misleading. When Professor Macfarren, for
instance, in his Lectures (p. 97) speaks of the natural pre-
paration of the seventh as consisting in the fact that as a
Harmonic it is sounded " whenever its Generator is sounded,
and is in fact co-existent with such Generator," he uses
language which is, to say the very least, far more applicable
to the Harmonic chord than to the Harmonic scale, as we
may call it, to Harmonics sounded concurrently rather than
successively: or when Mr. Capes, after insisting (Preface, p. 7)

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 143

upon " a resolute reference to the fact that no single — (by
which he means simple) — musical sounds exist, or ever can
exist," as the keystone of his system, goes on to talk about
major and minor thirds (p. 16) when considered as "materials
for harmony" as depending "upon their relations to that
vast composite tone which is produced by the sounding of
any single string or tube," he could hardly expect us to
imagine that he was referring to anything but the chord,
and not the scale.

Sir Frederick Ouseley again, in first introducing us to Har-
monics (Chapter II., pp. 14, 15), speaks of the "primary
chord" or "primary harmony" (not melody) "of nature."
We can hardly, therefore, be blamed for supposing that it
is the Harmonic chord, rather than the Harmonic scale, in
which musical theory has sought the origin and growth of
our musical system.

But to obviate all possible complaint let us allow the
ground to be shifted ; let us, for the moment, assume that
the "familiarity" to which this supposed correspondence
between psychical and physical music is due is attribu-
table to the existence of the Harmonic scale, rather than the
Harmonic chord. Let us further assume that the holders
of these physical theories and those who oppose them
are agreed on this very cardinal point of musical history — viz.,
that the genesis of music is Melodic, not Harmonic, and that
the use of single sounds in succession preceded their use
in combination ; let us, I say, assume all this, and examine
the physical view in the light of this assumption. I do not
know whether the maximum number of the Harmonics suc-
cessively produced by any instrument at any time in actual
use has ever been determined, but in a general way it may
be doubted whether any such scale of open notes extending
beyond the twentieth Harmonic has ever been brought into
anything like familiar contact with the human ear. Let us,
however, suppose that in addition to the Tuba giving us the
Harmonic chord, some colossal Alpine horn blown by a giant
of the hills has been perpetually droning out the Harmonic
scale even up to the forty-eighth harmonic, which we shall
presently find has been referred to for scale purposes, and let
us enquire how far the familiarity with Nature's music thus
obtained has resulted in a preference for her provisions.
Have we, in fact, derived our scale from Nature's scale of
open notes?

To illustrate this point we will give three sets of notes : —

144 0n Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

They are those seven notes of the Harmonic series, which if
put in proper order would form, roughly, what is generally
understood to be the modern diatonic scale. Set A gives
these notes in the order in which they occur as Harmonics ;
set B gives those same Harmonic notes in the order in
which they occur in the diatonic scale, and set C gives
them again in their Harmonic order, but with their pitch
altered so as to bring them all within the compass of an
octave. We will allow, for the argument's sake, that the
twenty-second and twenty-seventh Harmonics are all right,
so to speak ; that is, we will suppose either that the fourth
and sixth notes of the diatonic scale do coincide vibra-
tional^ with the twice lowered octaves of these Harmonics ;
or we may square matters by adopting Professor Macfarren's
view, that though these Harmonics are not, as a matter of
fact, in our scale, still the ear would have preferred to have
them there if it had been left to its own natural instinct, and
had not been artificially tampered with.

Is it really conceivable that any amount of persistent and
all pervading repetitions of either of the sets of notes given
in A and B, even if sounded by themselves and not as
in Nature mixed up with a lot of other notes on each side
of them, could ever have suggested our psychical scale ?
Familiar as that scale is to us from centuries of hereditary
use, there is, I venture to think, not one of us who, without
having his attention previously directed to it, would detect
its presence in these notes (A and B) if sounded to him.

Turning to set C, it is fair to remark that to bring it into
the argument at all is of course making a very great con-
cession, for although this process of taking Harmonics out
of their natural octaves and reducing them to a uniform
pitch, so to speak, is one which is constantly being adopted
in these theoretical derivations, it is in itself a purely
psychical process ; Nature herself contributes absolutely

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 145

nothing to it. But even supposing she did, and that we
were physically provided with such a succession of notes
as those given in C, it is, to say the least, open to question
whether any amount of familiarity with such a sequence
would suggest the psychical scale to a brain not previously
familiar with it.

But some no doubt will think that all this is sheer waste
of time, for no one really contends for such a derivation
of our psychical scale. Now, such a remark would be
partially true, if it were only meant to imply that no
prominent musical theorist has formally and completely
given such a derivation. Many, however, have done this by
piece-meal as it were; they have committed themselves
to the principle of such derivation, though by a happy
indifference to logic they have stopped short in their
application of it ; they are always nibbling at this Harmonic
chord, here a bit, and there a bit ; they are persistently keep-
ing up a dropping fire of reference to these Harmonics, under
the influence of some sort of mysterious conviction that
somehow or other they ought to be referred to, and that
though we may not be able to explain quite everything by
them, still that every reference to them that can by any
exercise of ingenuity be made to wear a semblance of
pertinence, and so escape challenge, is something gained ; nay,
further, when after every possible method of manipulation
has been exhausted, and nature and art still obstinately
decline to be reconciled, occult principles are summoned to
the rescue ; the failure of correspondence (as we have seen in
the passage before quoted from Professor Macfarren's Lectures,
pp. 221-2) is accounted for by the assumption of psychical
transgression ; and a kind of fall of the musical Adam, and
an unregenerate condition of the musical soul is made to play
its part in the theory. Now the main object of this paper is
to show that, as a matter of logical principle^ no reference
whatever, of the kind, is justifiable ; and that schemes and
theories, which are in the very slightest degree dependent on
such reference, are so far educationally unsound. That
object cannot be considered to be completely attained until
we have convinced ourselves that this reference to Harmonics,
whether chord or scale, though relevant enough, as we must
all admit, on questions of tone-quality, is absolutely irrelevant
on all matters relating to the origin of our musical alphabet —
i.e., of our scale, or the use we choose to make of it for
purposes of melody or harmony. It would be necessary,
therefore, even if these references had been still more half-
hearted, indistinct, and sporadic than they have been, to
show to the fullest possible extent what the fact of making
them at all, and the language in which they have been made,
really imply. And in this view it can hardly be maintained

L

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146 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

that the course of investigation here adopted involves a waste
of time. Neither should I be doing myself justice if I did not
go on to show that, after all, these references have not always
been as vague and fragmentary as the description just given
of them might lead one to suppose. When Mr. Capes, for
instance (p. 62), says that it is impossible to be too urgent 44 in
reminding the student that the diatonic scale is a necessary
physical development of the composite sound of the key-
note," he uses language the precision of which is unquestion-
able, however questionable the view expressed by it. But
attention may be called to an attempt to maintain this scale-
derivation of a still more definite and systematic character.
There is an extremely valuable little work, Dr. Stone's
11 Elementary Lessons on Sound," an abridged version of
which, under the title of 44 The Scientific Basis of Music,"
has no doubt obtained general currency among young, musical
students as one of 44 Novello's Music Primers." On page
120 of the former (Macmillan, 1879), and page 39 of the
latter (Noveilo, 1878), is to be found the following table of
harmonics : —

G>-

5 6

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 It 12

8t>a..

-Q !

— 1 —

— ■ f

"3 ■ —

— &

r j

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 24 25 27

22 26
23

40 41 45 46
42 47
43
44

In both publications it is introduced to our notice in the
following words : — 44 If the Harmonic series be extended to the
full range of over five octaves, the seven sounds of the
musical scale can be developed out of it in regular succession
from the gradual approximation of the constituent ratios.
This has been well demonstrated by Mr. Colin Brown, Euing
Lecturer on Music at the Andersonian University, Glasgow,
on the note F, where the twenty-fourth, twenty-seventh,
thirtieth, thirty-second, thirty-sixth, fortieth, forty-fifth, and
forty-eighth Harmonics produce a correct enharmonic scale of
eight consecutive notes [from treble C to its octave*] . The

* The words bracketed are in the book only, and not in the primer.

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 147

Harmonics, which do not belong to the scale, are marked with
a cross on the approximate line of the staff to which they
belong."

Now it is satisfactory to be able to acquit Dr. Stone of any
special or personal interest in this Glasgow table, but this
acquittal can only be procured at the expense of his reputa-
tion for careful editorship. He has, in fact, shown so little
interest in this adopted Scotch bantling, that he has allowed
it to appear in both his books (although from the difference
in type it is clear that each version has been set up separately)
with the singular misplacement of 6' 7, instead of 6 7',
just as it is here given. It is clear, then, that his
revising faculties were on neither occasion stimulated by any
very keen sympathy with the matter immediately under re-
vision. But what now, I venture to ask, would be the
impression most likely to be created on the mind of
the student by the insertion of this table (together with
the explanatory remarks introducing it) in a popular
manual bearing the very significant title of " The Scientific
basis of Music ' ' ? Surely he could hardly be expected to come
to the conclusion that the correspondence there indicated
between the harmonic and the psychical scale was purely a
fortuitous coincidence, and that there was no more real con-
nection between the one and the other than there would be,
let us say, between the fact that London is called London,
and the fact that if, of the fifty odd towns lying in a direct line
between it and Newcastle, we take, say, the twenty-fourth,
twenty-seventh, thirty-second, thirty-sixth, fortieth, and forty-
fifth — viz., Luton, Oakham, Newark, Doncaster, Ouseburn,
and Northallerton, their initial letters will also give us the
word London. Surely he would think that the table was
inserted for some scientific purpose, and that it was intended
to illustrate, if riot establish, some sort of scientific connection
between the two scales ; and if he opened the Primer with
such phrases in his head as those already quoted about
the necessity of 44 seeking the origin of music in natural
phenomena" (Ouseley's Harmony, p. 14), what sort of
connection would he more readily and naturally suppose to
be implied than that of cause and effect ? Unfortunately,
a copy of that particular lecture in the Glasgow Series
quoted by Dr. Stone is no longer procurable, but I have been
able to get a copy of the next lecture of the series, in which
reference is made to this table, and in which the vibration-
relationships of each successive note in the scale are expressed
in the ratios of the Harmonics given in it, as — e.g., 24:27,
27 : 30, 30 : 32, &c. ; further, " the construction of the scale "
is described as that of " a tree growing from a single sound
or root, rising through a series of octaves as a tall stem " —
(«' Music in Common Things," Part II., by Colin Brown,

l 2

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148 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

Euing Lecturer, &c. ; Collins & Sons, Glasgow, 1876, pp. 21,
22, and 33)— a metaphor obviously suggestive of the
" Generator" theory. It is probable, therefore, if not obvious,
that Mr. Colin Brown at any rate intends to imply something
more than merely fortuitous correspondence, and this some-
thing more must of course be of the nature of causation,
whether operating through necessity or through habit, and
whether the controlling principle reside in our suscepti-
bility to Harmonics or in some mysterious natural appetite
of the musical brain for mathematical ratios. If (we must
again repeat) — if of the sixty or more possible notes within the
octave we have simply selected these seven for our diatonic
scale because for musical purposes we prefer them, then the
process of their selection is a purely psychical one, and
should we, after scouring the seventh heaven of Harmonics,
at length discover these same notes imbedded at distant
intervals in the Harmonic series, our search will indeed have
been rewarded with a "coincidence," but (considering the
theoretically infinite number of Harmonics) a most remarkably
unremarkable one. True, Mr. Colin Brown does not state
in so many words that the psychical scale is derived from the
Harmonic, but it is fair to observe that if no inference of this
kind was intended to be drawn, the introduction of this
formidable array of Harmonics, Ratios, and Generator is a
piece of puerile irrelevance utterly unworthy of an academic
lecture-room. We may then fairly assume that some sort of
causal connection is implied, and that these Harmonics are
referred to as explaining the origin of our psychical scale.
But if we take our music from nature on the ground of habit —
i.e., because these natural sounds are familiar to us, why out
of the sixty-four notes contained in the fifth and sixth octaves
of Harmonics should we be so specially familiar with these
seven in particular beyond the rest ? And if, again, our
preference for nature's music is a necessity of our constitution,
and, as Mr. Capes (p. 64) puts it, nothing short of "imperfect
physical organisation" can prevent "our hearts being
touched " the moment that each one of these harmonic waves
breaks upon the ear, then the M abnormal " obduracy and
hardness of heart which even in the most favoured constitu-
tions will only yield response to seven such waves out of
sixty-four is really too alarming to contemplate. I have been
assuming all along, as the theory required, that our ears are
familiar with these two particular octaves of Harmonics,
although we all know that the human ear, unassisted by
resonators, has never yet heard a single note of them ;
but this very concession has only enabled us to bring into
greater prominence the radical absurdities of the position
maintained.

But there is a still more fatal objection to any such

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 149

derivation of the scale, which is this. Allusion was made
in an earlier part of the paper to one fact of psychical
music, which it was said would be assumed to be
axiomatic — viz., the fact of tonality. In the light of this
fact, it is impossible to accept as an explanation of the
diatonic scale a reference to any series of Harmonics except
that of the tonic itself. If we are searching in nature for our
scale of C, it is as clear as possible that it must be in the
Harmonics of C, and not in those of any other note whatever
that we must logically look for it ; and a similarly con-
structed table of the Harmonics of C would give us for our
scale of C a scale with an F sharp for its fourth note, which
is not, of course, the scale which these Harmonics are here
summoned to explain. And it is noticeable that this fact of
tonality is fully recognised by Mr. Colin Brown, for in the
text of his lecture he gives the ratios as being M the diatonic
relations in which the notes of the musical octave stand to
the root or tonic." At the same time, in a most innocent-
looking little foot-note, he is found to admit that the series
from which these ratios are taken " is a dominant, not a tonic
series " (p. 22). But this disingenuous jugglery between
"tonic" and "dominant" is a purely psychic process, of
which nature is as innocent as the babe unborn, and even as
a psychic process we may perhaps be permitted to hope that
it is not a popular one.

It has been found impossible to deal adequately with the
many points involved in this subject of the relations of
physical to psychical music in the course of a single paper ;
and, by the kindness of my friend Dr. Parry, I shall be
permitted to appear before you again next month. Having
regard to the obvious divisions of the subject, I have thought
it would be most convenient to conclude the present paper
here, leaving the more interesting and important section, that
dealing with chords, to another occasion. My main object
on this occasion has been to clear the way, as it were, for
what is to follow, by endeavouring to make plain the real
nature and issues of the questions involved. A certain
cynical diplomatist is reported to have said that, "language
was given us as a means of veiling our thoughts " ; and there
can be little doubt that more than half the world's contro-
versies have been due to influences aptly illustrating the
force of his description. My endeavour has been to lessen
the chances of such ambiguity by adopting a somewhat more

subjects ; and our time will not, I venture to think, have been
wasted if the terms and expressions which have been
introduced shall have been found to give the lie to the
diplomatist's epigram, and shall help to bring our ideas into
relief, as it were, rather than to veil them. It will, I hope, be

hitherto applied to these

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150 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

taken as a step in the right direction if we have been led to
see that musical problems, after all, do not differ in kind
from other problems connected with the operations of the
brain in its relations to sensible phenomena, except that
the special aptitude of the brain to deal with such phenomena
at all is, in this particular instance, possessed by some only,
not by all. But in the one essential element of freedom and
independence of operation, the musical activities of the brain
resemble its other activities. In all cases we have the
threefold problem to deal with : there is the physical world,
the physiological, and the psychical. Take the eye, for
instance ; for every single object which we are conscious of
seeing — i.e., which we see psychically, there are millions of
objects which are at the same moment presented to us ; these
are, so to speak, 14 seen, yet unseen " by us ; they are
physically present in the external field of vision ; they are
physiologically existent, being reflected on the retina, but
unless we choose to give our attention to them they are
psychically non-existent, we are not conscious of them ; " the
eye " may see them, but " we " do not. And the same with
the ear, it is at any moment the receptacle of countless waves
of sound which dash themselves upon the auricular shore ;
all of these have a similar physical origin, and produce the
same physiological effect ; but in a general way they do not
come to a psychic hearing unless we desire that they should
do so. The many interesting phenomena therefore with
which musical acoustics present us are to be dealt with in
their relation to the brain, precisely as we deal with other
problems of the same class ; they only give a possible but not
a necessary clue to its operations ; as was stated before, they
may and can explain difference, they cannot account for,
much less compel, preference. The brain is as free and
autocratic in this corner of its empire as in any other;
and if music is of this nature — part, that is, of a system
of operations in which psychic choice holds sway — then
the logical origin of music is most unquestionably
psychical and not physical, and theories which take as
their basis the axiom that what is physically provided
and physiologically received is necessarily productive of
certain psychic effects, are not theories which can meet
with approval from an educational point of view. In homely
language they put the cart before the horse ; their logical
process is a fallacious one ; and it is hopeless to look for a
really sound system of musical exposition until this mistaken
attitude, together with the methods and expressions incident
to it, have been abandoned, and the ground shall have been
left clear for treating what is really a psychic question in a
psychic way.

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 151

DISCUSSION.

The Chairman.— Ladies and Gentlemen, you will all agree
with me that our thanks are eminently due to Mr. Cobb for
the very eloquent and interesting lecture he has given us this
evening. Perhaps one of the best terms to apply to it is
Suggestive. It has opened to our view a great number of
paths which I think may be followed up by all of us with
interest and advantage, and when we see it in print I am
perfectly certain both those who are here and those who
unfortunately have not been able to be here will read it with
very great profit and pleasure, Mr. Cobb has brought before
us very many considerations of great importance, and he has
treated them with the scientific accuracy with which alone
subjects of the kind ought to be approached. It may seem
almost unnecessary to say that a word should express its
meaning, but really when we consider, as Mr. Cobb has re-
marked, the amount of confusion that has arisen in discussion
from the use of words in doubtful or double meanings, there is
nothing more important to impress on the mind of all who
are engaged in discussion than to know what they mean
when they use words. Our Universities until comparatively
late years, I am afraid, treated music in a very perfunctory
manner. They certainly possessed a faculty of music and gave
degrees, but music itself was really not studied there. There
was very little interest taken in it, and the degrees
were more ornamental than anything else. In late years
this, I am happy to say, has been completely changed, and in
addition to the chairs of music being filled by the eminent
musicians who now hold them, I am happy to say that our
friend Mr. Cobb is not alone amongst* the Professors and
Fellows of the University, who are engaged in the work of
education there, in his appreciation and knowledge of music,
and, therefore, we may be perfectly sure that music has now
attained its rightful place in the Universities, and that
musical degrees do indicate musical culture, and are no longer
as they were formerly, to a great extent, mere ornamental
appendages to the name of a Cathedral organist. It has
been suggested to me that possibly as the paper is rather
a long one in point of time, although not in point of interest,
and it has become rather late, and our meeting is not very
numerously attended, and as, I am glad to say, we shall have
the pleasure of seeing Mr. Cobb again next month, the
discussion on the subject can be better taken then, when we
have the whole of the paper before us. If that be the feeling
of the meeting we will simply, on this occasion, return Mr.
Cobb our best thanks for his paper.

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MAJOR CRAWFORD
In the Chair.

June 2, 1884,

ON CERTAIN PRINCIPLES OF MUSICAL EXPOSI-
TION CONSIDERED EDUCATIONALLY AND
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CURRENT
SYSTEMS OF MUSICAL THEORY.

By Gerard F. Cobb, Esq., M.A.,

Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Chairman of the Board of Musical
Studies in the University of Cambridge, and late President of
the Cambridge University Musical Society.

PART II.

Before resuming our subject it will be desirable briefly to
mention a few points dealt with at the last meeting, just to
make the position of the question clear. By " Musical
Physics " we mean the science that deals with the origin of
musical sounds, and their mode of transmission through the
air. These sounds are conducted by the ear to the brain.
So far as the stages by which they are so conducted have
been brought within the range of knowledge, they are
physiological ; operations beyond this, the nature of which
still remains unrevealed to us, we entitle psychic. It was
stated, on the authority of a most eminent physiologist,
that science has as yet discovered no difference whatever
between the ear of the musician and the ear of the non-
musician ; consequently our appreciation of music is not a
physiological, but a psychical problem. The question then
followed : Can musical physics explain musical psychics ?
Do the operations of the brain in dealing with musical sounds
correspond in any degree with those constant features of
them which are physically demonstrable, and which form a
portion of what we call the immutable laws of Nature ? It
was thoroughly established by quotations from the works of
the Professors of music at our two oldest Universities, as well
as from other sources, that there exists a strong tendency to
apply these laws to explain the case, and to make them the
basis of what is called musical theory. It was shown that
these natural phenomena had been made the ground of

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154 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

special systems of chord classification, and of special chord
treatment. We also found that some more or less
systematic attempts had been made to trace the origin of the
musical scale to the same source, and it was with an attempt
to point out the difficulties in the way of any such derivation
that the paper closed.

It was shown that conformity between the music of Art
and the music of Nature could only be accounted for in one
of three ways. Our acquiescence in Nature's music — if we
do acquiesce in it — must be due to choice, to necessity, or to
habit. The postulate of choice concedes the whole point
at issue ; whilst that of constitutional necessity is hardly
seriously entertained by any one. We were reduced, there-
fore, to the third postulate, that of habit or familiarity, which,
to be operative at all, involves, of course, the assumption
of the audibility of Harmonics. This audibility was allowed
for the sake of argument, and the position assumed was
examined with reference to the scale, leaving chords for
consideration this time.

We have now to enquire whether Harmonics or any other
physical considerations can really account for modern
European harmony, and whether the brain's choice and
preference in the matter of chords in any degree follows suit
with the preferences and provisions presented to us in the
eternal laws of Nature.

In the course of the enquiry we shall have to deal
incidentally with some of those facts of arithmetical relation-
ship, in conformity with which the laws of physical
consonance and dissonance have been formulated. These
facts, it was suggested, might fairly be considered as forming
a class of their own independently of Harmonics, and they
were described as the " mathematical," as distinguished from
the " natural " branch of musical physics.

Starting then with the second Harmonic, we have first the
interval of the octave, an interval which (as bearing the
simplest arithmetical relationship next to unison) comes first
also in the order of mathematical consonance. What
position does it occupy in psychic music, that is, in the music
of our choice ? Certainly not the first. In fact, it is only by
courtesy, as it were, that we consider it a dual or binary
interval at all. The effect of adding an upper octave to a
note is not so much to give us two notes as to change the
character of the one. It is more analogous to the real
function of Harmonics generally, namely, to impart quality.
It gives a brightness and pungency to the original note and
little more. Of course we do hear both notes, and can
distinguish them if we choose, but in a general way we do
not care to do so, and it would be an exaggeration, if not an
actual impropriety of language, if when an organist, for

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition, 155

instance, is playing on an 8 ft. and a 4 ft. stop combined we
were to say that it produced upon us the effect of using two
notes instead of one ; if whilst holding on a note on an 8 ft.
stop he draws a 4 ft. stop upon it, then no doubt we are
conscious of the duality of the sound, but in this case it is
virtually given us in arpeggio, and our attention is thus
forcibly drawn to it.

Far otherwise is it with the next interval that is given us
by the second and third of the series, the interval of the fifth.
Here we are conscious of two notes under all circumstances.
This interval, the second in Nature's order, also comes
second in order of mathematical propriety. What is its
psychic position ? The musician shakes his head am-
biguously at it. No doubt, he will say, it is a particularly
clean, a particularly smooth interval, clean, in fact, as a
Dutch floor, smooth as a Dutch cheese. Its arithmetical
credentials are perfectly unimpeachable. Nevertheless it is
dull and unentertaining, if not positively objectionable. Like
the heroine in the Laureate's poem (Maud) it may be
described as —

Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null,
Dead perfection, no more.

Our feeling on hearing it — unless employed for some very
special and exceptional effect — is one of negative toleration
rather than positive enjoyment, and when the last faint echo
of it has died away, we are seldom conscious of any lingering
anxiety to hear it again. What — it may well be asked —
would be our impressions if in the place of the mathematically
speaking far inferior interval of the third some one were to
substitute this immaculate consonance of the fifth in the
two opening bars of the Dead March in " Saul " ? Should
we consider it a happy emendation of a corrupt text ?
Certainly not. Our soul would still steadily refuse to be
allured by its Quaker-like simplicity, or abashed by its
physical prestige. One such interval we may indeed tolerate
out of pure indifference, but from a succession of them in
unveiled perfection, even toleration is withdrawn. To a
particular trio of them —

no doubt we accord a kind of conventional sanction, but that
is only from a sense of music to come. Even the Shah of
Persia, on the often-quoted occasion when he applauded
directly the tuning was over, is supposed to have done so
more from a notion that it was the rule in European concert
rooms to applaud whenever silence succeeded sound than

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156 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

from any very acute perception of the charms of arithmetical
consonance ; neither when Schumann, in his " Pilgrimage of
the Rose," preludes the wedding dance with these three-
fifths does it occur to us to regard it in any other light than
as an obvious musical joke. We are all at one, we may
assure ourselves, on this question. One instance only occurs
to me of divergence of view on the subject. It is to be found
in one of the works of that eminent novelist, whose loss is so
universally deplored — I mean " George Eliot " — who, with all
her gifts of sympathetic fancy, and of insight into men and
things, nevertheless was not always proof against the
temptation to introduce topics on which she perhaps felt
more than she knew. In a remarkable scene in the " Mill on
the Floss," she approvingly represents the lovers, Stephen
and Lucy, as singing a duet in a perfect accord of " descending
thirds and fifths " (p. 339 of the stereotyped edition). But it
is fair to add that Stephen had just prefaced this performance
by the significant remark : M We are Adam and Eve, un-
fallen, in Paradise." Such a succession of intervals, therefore,
however alien to our corrupt imagination, may no doubt have
been appropriate to their temporarily assumed condition of
pristine purity.

One very obvious reason, at any rate, for our aversion to
naked consecutive fifths is that we do not particularly like
the interval itself to begin with, and our reason for this
initial dislike is simply because, for all its pretentious con-
sonance, we do dislike it ; and until physiology, thousands of
years hence, shall have succeeded in bringing the operations
of the brain under the brain's own cognizance, we shall never
have any other reason to offer.

I do not like you, Dr. Fell,
The reason why I cannot tell ;
But this I do know very well,
I do not like you, Dr. Fell.

These " elective affinities " or " antipathies " of the musical
brain must long remain among the absolute, axiomatic facts
of psychics, of which we can no more render exact analytical
account than we can of our consciousness of personal identity,
or of our belief in the existence of the external world.

There being, then, a general agreement as regards the
objectionable character of a succession of these intervals as
a binary combination, all this disquisition about fifths would
be superfluous did it not have a direct bearing upon the
main question we are considering, the relations, namely,
between Harmonics on the one hand, and music on the other.
For this third Harmonic brings us face to face with the fact
that, if natural phenomena are to be the basis of music, we
must be prepared to seek our highest delectation in these
abominable intervals. Nature herself insists upon it. Either

On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 157

the ear is able to distinguish Harmonics, or it is not. If it is
not y then the theory that the supposed correspondence between
psychics and physics is due to familiarity and habit, and that
we accept certain combinations because Nature, as the phrase
is, "prepares them for us" — the theory of "Fundamental
Discords," in fact, falls to the ground. If, on the other hand,
Harmonics are audible at all, then we must at the very least
assume that these two are audible, and the consequence is
that the simplest melody in the world, even the scale for
instance which, according to some, Nature herself is supposed
to have originated for us, involves a succession of "consecutive
fifths." If you ask Nature to play us the melody of our
National Anthem, she will play it upon a two-rank mixture—

i

r:

:&c.

and if for all the 44 wisdom of her charming," we should play
the part of 44 the deaf adder who stoppeth her ears," if to
her incomparable 44 piping" we should refuse to 44 dance,"
she, if the theory be sound, will either roundly rebuke us
(with Professor Macfarren) for the 44 abnormal condition of
our musical sense," p. 222, or smile in pity (with Mr. Capes)
at our 44 defective physical organisation," p. 64.

Neither at this stage of the Harmonic series does the
mathematical theory fare much better. However neat these
figures of arithmetical consonance may look to the eye, the
ear refuses to yield them allegiance. Despite the assertions
of the mathematician Euler, we are by no means enamoured of
their prim simplicity of ratio and physical purity of tone.
The more complex relationship of 5 to 4 (major third), and 6
to 5 (minor third), though more puzzling to our instincts of
calculation, have a musical magic in them which the naive
and innocent looking 3 to 2 does not possess.

Even on its own ground the ratio theory breaks down ; for
it introduces us at the very outset to something akin to circle-
squaring. Ever since the days of Pythagoras we have been
told that the octave and the fifth are incommensurable, and
that the further we go with them the more they will diverge.
And yet with this irremediable flaw in the very corner stone
of the arithmetical structure we can still find those who are
ready to tell us, like our Vice-President, Mr. Chappell, that
music is, after all, 44 purely a science of numbers," or like our
President (Sir F. Ouseley), that we should 44 rest the rules
and theories of harmony on the sure basis of numerical
calculations" — (Sheldonian Lecture, 1884).

The addition of the fourth Harmonic, when taken in binary
combination with the third, gives us a third interval. From
the octave and the fifth we now proceed to the interval of the

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158 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition,

fourth. To this interval psychical music assumes much the
same attitude as it did to the last. It regards it as devoid of
all positive attraction, however pure and perfect it may be
according to the terms and requirements of physical con-
sonance. There is no warmth and glow about it ; it neither
stirs the musical pulse nor stimulates the musical brain ; it
is barren and unsuggestive, and the negative acquiescence
. with which we listen to a detached specimen of it is
transmuted into a feeling of positive dislike when we are
confronted with a succession of them.

We have thus got out of this Harmonic chord three
intervals, the octave, the fifth, and the fourth, the so-called
'* perfect " intervals — the " three Graces," as we may call
them, of natural and mathematical music. They are, indeed
— it is impossible to deny it — the first three in the order of
physical and arithmetical merit ; but it is equally impossible
to admit that they occupy any such position in the psychical
order. We will not presume to say of the two orders, taken
generally, that " the last shall be first and the first last," for
that would be unnecessarily to strain the antagonism between
them, and possibly to prejudice the argument for the sake of
an epigram ; it is nevertheless obvious that the feeling with
which these three particular intervals of superior physical
consonance impress our musical sense is of a wholly different
kind and nature to that produced upon it by the physically
far more impure and imperfect intervals of thirds and sixths,
and that so far from placing the former above the latter in
our own order of merit, we should not even allow them a
place in the same class with them.

Passing on now to the fifth Harmonic, it undoubtedly
presents us with an interval which, "roughly speaking," is
not only agreeable, but pre-eminently agreeable ; and it
would be a mere waste of time to enlarge upon the beauty or
the utility of thirds in music. I use the expression " roughly
speaking " advisedly, for even here, when, after a series of
initial disappointments, we have at last happened upon an
interval in which art and nature promise to co-operate, the
reconciliation is not, after all, as complete as may be sup-
posed. For there are " Thirds and Thirds." In the syllabus
on the card mention is made of " various forms of Thirds,"
and of the " Essentials of Psychic Tests." I should have
been prepared under this head to take the three Thirds— (1)
The Pure Intonation, Natural, or Harmonic Third ; (2) The
Pythagorean or Mathematical Third, and (3) the Third of
Equal Temperament, and to compare them together with
reference to the question which (if any) of these could lay
claim to be the Psychic Third, meaning thereby the third
which we prefer to use when unfettered by mechanical
restrictions. Such an examination involves two very im-

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 1 59

portant points ; first, the question of what may be termed the
ear's " working margin " in music ; and, second, the conditions
necessary for administering tests and securing the right class
of evidence in investigations of this kind. But I find that
•were I to read to you what I have written on these two
points, the paper would transgress the usual limits ; and as
their consideration is not essential to the main point before
us — viz., the relationship of natural law to music, I will, with
your permission, omit them. Under these circumstances I
shall, for the sake of the argument, concede that the third
which we prefer is the Natural or Harmonic third, though
personally I am very far indeed from sharing that view. But
this concession only extends to the fact that we have found a
portion of the Harmonic chord in which we take unquestioned
pleasure. There is still the further point that, though this
pleasant interval may be given us by nature, it does not
occupy in the physical system the same position as compared
with other intervals that it occupies in psychic estimation.
The musician places thirds in the very highest rank of
musical excellence ; the acoustician, on the other hand, places
them much lower in his scale of consonances. This will,
therefore, form a convenient point for touching upon those
aspects of the question to which we are introduced by the
laws of physical consonance and dissonance.

At first sight nothing would seem more probable than that
these laws would furnish a case in which the connection
between physics and music is substantially one of cause and
effect — one in which our inner preferences are actually regu-
lated and determined by differences produced by the operations
of external law. There will be no occasion to go minutely into
the question of beats, still less to enter upon any elaborate
mathematical computations. It will be quite sufficient to
announce the principle of their operation, and to describe in
general terms the position they are supposed to assume in the
logic of the question before us. Where two sounding bodies
are in simultaneous vibration there will be certain points in
the series of vibrations at which they weaken or strengthen,
neutralise or emphasise each other. By this means a
crescendo and diminuendo of tone is produced, the recurring
emphasis of which is (within certain limits as regards the
rapidity of the beats and the duration of the sounds that
produce them) distinctly perceptible by the ear. Beats may
result either from the notes themselves (i.e., either from two
simple notes or the ground-tones of a Harmonic series) or
from various associated relationships due to the presence of
other members of the Harmonic series in each case, or of
combination tones. In case it should be necessary to dis-
tinguish between these two classes of beats, it will be well to
provide them with distinctive titles, and to call the first set

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160 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition,

primary and the second set, or sets, derivative beats. The
theory which assigns to beats a psychic influence assumes
not only that we are conscious of them, but that (in the cases
to which it is applied) we are disagreeably affected by them,
and that our musical sense in this matter graduates its scale
of likes and dislikes in conformity with the physical scale of
rate and intensity with which such beats are generated. The
musical merits of an interval — that is, its agreeableness — are,
in this view, proportionate to its smoothness — that is, to the
degree in which these beats can be reduced or eliminated.
This principle is the foundation on which the advocates of
what is called pure or just intonation build up their scale
systems, and it lies at the root of all their controversies with
the adherents of equal temperament. It is, therefore, most
important to examine it, for if it should be found to fail, the
whole system of pure intonation fails with it, and there is an
end to the controversy. Nothing could, at first sight, be
neater, more precise, or more apparently complete and satis-
factory in all its parts and bearings than this whole theory of
beats, and when all this theoretic excellence is enforced by
some pungent illustration, in which a specially selected com-
bination is mercilessly protracted on an instrument of the
harmonium class, or a set of organ pipes with very prominent
Harmonics or combination tones, we are then only too ready
to concede all that the theory demands— if only the ex-
perimenter would take his fingers off the key-board. And
herein should lie our first objection to these attempts to
reduce music to a physical system. The physical theorist
seems to mistake the real nature of the problem to be
solved. The phenomena he, for the most part, deals
with are more the phenomena of science than of art,
and their explanation by scientific means need not,
therefore, surprise us. The explanations may be thoroughly
clear and consistent ; the objection to them is that whereas
they are assumed to be explaining one thing, they are in
reality explaining another. If indeed the musical soul were
provided with no other instrumental vehicle for its utterance
except sound-producers of the harmonium class, and if music
consisted solely of chords prolonged after the manner of these
experiments, there would be a far greater degree of pertinence
in such illustrations, and in the deductions enforced by them.
But the important factor in this whole problem which is so often
overlooked, and to the importance of which it is impossible to
direct attention too frequently or urgently, is the " selective "
manner in which the brain operates upon all sensible phe-
nomena. For every million such phenomena that are
physically and physiologically existent, but one, it may be, is
translated into psychic fact. The brain is, as it were,
master of its own house, and, except in extreme cases, closes

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition, 161

its doors on all unwelcome intruders. We may be able to
trace the path of thousands of physical claimants for its
M attention," through all the physiological — that is, the known
— mazes of our organs of sense, but beyond this point they do
not penetrate ; the brain declines to deal with them ; and of
the countless things which at each fleeting moment are the
possible objects of consciousness, very few indeed become its
actual objects ; the merest handful are admitted to the brain
and produce, as we say, 11 an impression " upon it. Except
in very extreme cases, where the physical and physiological
conditions are so persistent as to take no denial, we are
perfectly free to give or to withhold our attention as we
choose. It is necessary for the theories we are combating to
assume that beats are extreme cases of this nature, and to
deny the brain its right and power of " neglecting " them ; and
if music in its ordinary form presented us with beats after the
manner of the experiments, and dealt mainly with instruments
of a special class and with sufficiently protracted chords, it
might then happen that the beats referred to would force
themselves on its notice. But this is not the case ; we are,
comparatively speaking, sparing in our employment of instru-
ments of this class, and so far from music — I mean, of course,
modern European music — being so slow and sustained as to
force these beats on our notice, it moves for the most part
far too rapidly for it to be even possible to detect them
however carefully listened for. There is in all such matters
a certain " minimum " of time below which the operation of
" attention " is impossible. We pass a church tower, for
instance, in a railway train. If we were going at express
speed we should, supposing our attention to be directed to it,
be conscious that it was a tower of a certain size and shape
and no more. If we were in the guard's van of a luggage train
we might very likely be able to say that it had battlements
and a clock, and to describe the architecture of its windows ;
and if we were halted opposite to it we should be able to tell the
time, and perhaps count the layers of stones of which it was
built. In all three cases the external conditions of the
problem are the same, but the time in which the attention is
allowed to operate, and the consequent extent and character
of its operations, varies in each case. Just so in the instance
now under consideration ; the external conditions — viz., the
beats themselves — are equally present in the case of a given
combination, whatever be the length of time for which it is
sounded ; but even if we desired to observe them, the com-
binations as used in music are, so to speak, whisked by our
ears at too rapid a rate, and are accompanied by too many
other more attractive claims on our attention for such observa-
tion to be possible. But even supposing it were possible to
observe them, is it necessary, natural, customary, or desirable

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162 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

that we should do so ? It can hardly be contended that it is
necessary or natural. To take a homely illustration. When
we go to bed we hang our watch close to our bedside or put
it under our pillow. It's ticks or beats are perfectly audible :
we can at any moment assure ourselves of this by the use of
our "attention," and on thus "attending" to them we are
astonished to find what a noise they make. But how often
are we, as a matter of fact, conscious of the ticking, either
before we fall asleep or on waking in the morning ? So far
from its being necessary or natural that we should hear it, we
hardly ever notice it at all ; and on those very [few occasions
when it persists in being heard, and irritatingly usurps our
attention, what do we do? Do we treat it as an acoustic
problem ? No, we treat it with blue pill. Our temporary
inability not to hear these ticks we regard as a sign that
our system is out of order. We consider it unnatural and
abnormal that they should thus force themselves on our
notice. Again, is it customary or desirable to listen for these
beats ? Desirable it cannot be, if the theory be a sound one,
because it maintains that they produce a disagreeable effect.
Neither is it customary. If we had all been listening together
for the last half hour to a musical performance, I venture to
think that however we might differ as to our views of the
constructive merits of the pieces performed, and the technical
ability or interpretative judgment of the performers, we should
be substantially unanimous on the question of whether such
and such a player or singer had played or sung out of tune.
Yet no one would be prepared to say — I knew So and so
was singing out of tune because I heard the beats, and noticed
that they were more or less rapid than they should have been.
We surely should never think of deliberately setting ourselves
to listen for them, and of going about like musical hypochon-
driacs counting them as we might the beats of our pulse, and
gauging our condition of musical enjoyment accordingly. It is
of course pertectly possible for us under certain conditions to
detect these beats, and no doubt the power of detecting them
can be quickened and developed by practice ; but unless we
are tuners by profession, there is no more call for us to
cultivate that power than there is for us to educate ourselves
in the perfectly attainable habit of separating the images on
the retina and cultivating a squint.

The fact is beats are not, strictly speaking, a musical
phenomenon at all, though they may be made to serve a
useful musical purpose as a guide to the tuner. The power
of noting them and estimating their rapidity is a power as
easily acquired by the most unmusical person as by the most
musical ; they are perceived by the ordinary and not by
the musical ear. This being true, let us take the case of
two persons— A a musical and B an unmusical person —

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 163

listening to some combination of notes which are dissonant
in the psychical sense, that is, which produce an unpleasant
or unsatisfactory effect on the musical ear. Let us also
suppose that this same combination is dissonant in the
physical sense — i.e., that it produces beats which are distinctly
perceptible when the attention is drawn to them. We have,
then, this problem : A , the musician, is disagreeably affected
by the combination, but J5, who has no musical sensibilities,
is not so affected. But both A and B are equally conscious
of the beats. Therefore, the beats are not the source of A 's
discomfort, otherwise B would share it ; in other words,
physical dissonance has no causative connection with psychical
dissonance. And this very simple reasoning may be enforced
by the following additional considerations : —

(1.) Beats have been compared to the flickering of a
candle, and it has been assumed that they are as annoying
to the ear as the flicker is to the eye. But this particular
parallel between the two senses is open to grave question.
The pitch of sounds may be taken to be in the case of the
ear much what the colour of objects is to the eye. Let us
conceive for a moment an object presenting to us a constant
succession of colours — say a revolving signal-lamp with
differently coloured facings. If it were made to rotate so fast
as to present as rapid a succession of colours to the eye as a
fairly fast five-finger exercise presents of tones to the ear, we
should, no doubt, find them unpleasant and confusing. A
well executed shake on the piano is undoubtedly a pleasant
thing to listen to, but a similarly rapid shake of two colours,
so to speak, would be distressing to look at, unless, indeed,
it were so fast as to merge the colours into one ; in other
words, it would seem as if the ear can tolerate much more
rapid "intermittences" of this kind than the eye. According
to Helmholtz (p. 262) the ear is more than five times as good
as the eye in this respect.

(2.) Again, if the effect which a so-called discord produces
on us is due to the beats, then that effect ought to vary
with varying beating conditions. But this is not the case to
anything like an adequate extent. Take, for instance, the
minor second, in which two notes are a diatonic semitone
apart. This is the interval at which the supposed disagree-
able effect due to beats is stated by some to be at its
maximum. The number of beats per second is, as we know,
equal to the difference of the vibration numbers of the two
notes. Take the note C above middle C, with the B natural
below it; their respective vibration numbers are 512 and
480 ; and the beats, therefore, are at the rate of 32 to the
second. But the same interval, taken with middle C, will
give us 16 beats a second, and, with the C below, 8 beats a
second. We have in the first case four times, and in the second

m 2

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164 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition

case twice the amount of cause, so to speak, that we have
in the third ; and yet so far as the psychic effect of the three
positions of the notes is concerned, the difference is barely,
if at all, appreciable ; we have just as keen a desire to have
the discord "resolved " in the one octave as in the other.
Professor Helmholtz, taking this very interval (p. 259),
experiments with it over 5 octaves, giving it 4, 8, 16, 32, 64,
and even 128 beats — which last number he describes (p. 258)
as being perfectly audible; stating that though, "as we
ascend, the rapidity of the beats will increase, the character
of the sensation will remain unaltered." We should, I think,
be prepared to admit that, at the two extremes, the psychic
effect of the interval is slightly less unpleasant, but then it
must be remembered that our musical sensibility only
operates at all within a certain compass ; in these extreme
octaves its power is, so to speak, on the wane, and we should
naturally expect some modification of effect in consequence.

(3.) To take another point. If our feeling with regard to
the interval is due to its physical dissonance, then the removal
of the obnoxious combination, and the substitution of any
physical consonance for it, ought to satisfy us. But this is
not the case. We certainly do not feel that its unpleasantness
is "resolved" when it is followed by any consonant chord,
but only when it is followed by some particular consonant
chord or chords. There are also plenty of cases in which we
"resolve" one physically dissonant interval by proceeding to
another such. But if the power of removing the unpleasant
impression does not reside in physical consonance as such,
but only in certain particular forms of it, and if the removal
can be equally well effected by physical dissonance, it becomes
extremely difficult to establish any definable connection be-
tween physics and psychics in the matter.

(4.) Again, we can very materially modify, though not
of course entirely remove, the physical dissonance of an
obnoxious interval by sounding it on tuning forks, or on
some large stopped flue-pipes yielding simple tones, thus
leaving only the Combination Tones as a source of beats.
In these extreme cases we may no doubt be conscious of
a difference in one respect : this approximate extinction of
the roughness of the interval may make it sound strange and
unfamiliar to us. But is our psychic attitude to it in any
way affected by this modification? Are we really more
reconciled to the interval in consequence? Is it any more
complete or agreeable to the musical sense ? Should we be
prepared, for instance, to wind up a sonata with it ? Surely
the organist's craving for "resolutions" is as intense when
he is playing on a stopped diapason as it is when he is
playing on a reed or a gamba ; and if he closed his voluntary
with a chord of the tonic major seventh instead of the simple

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 165

triad we should consider it a very poor consolation to be told
that he was playing on a flute and not a salcional. Surely
then the musical effect of a combination of notes which is
in the psychic sense discordant, and which requires therefore
special treatment in composition, is not due to the physical
antecedent of beats, for however much we may modify that
physical antecedent, we are certainly not conscious of any-
thing like a proportionate modification of psychical effect.
That antecedent, therefore, is not a causal or explanatory
one.

(5.) Once more : if beats furnish the measure of our enjoy-
ment, then we ought to find precisely the same pleasure in
the first of the three intervals just now given — viz., the 512-
vibration C and its adjacent B natural — that we do in the
interval of a major third between tenor C and the E natural
above it ; for this interval pulsates at exactly the same rate,
and gives us thirty-two beats to the second, which according
to the theory is the maximum degree of dissonance. It might
perhaps be urged that in this case as the two intervals are
not of the same class we ought to allow for the derivative
beats ; but surely no one would venture to contend that the
substitution of simple for compound tones would alter our
decided preference for major thirds over minor seconds, and
the combination tones in the case are beyond perceptible
beating distance, and do not therefore enter into the problem.

The physicist, however, has a ready answer to this portion
of the argument. Dissonance, he will say, is not due to the
presence of beats in all cases, but only to their presence in
the case of certain sounds, which, from being near in pitch,
cause sympathetic vibrations in fibres or arches of the ear
near to each other ; and the interval of a third exceeds the
limits of auricular sympathy. The problem when thus stated
presents us with physiological as well as physical conditions.
But it has already been mentioned that the view maintained
a few years ago that our sense of pitch resides in this portion
of the ear, has since been proved to be untenable. Physiology
has at present no light whatever to throw on the operations
of musical sensibility. The intermittent character of the
sound is, or can be made to be, as obvious to an unmusical
as to a musical person ; if then the musical person has a dis-
tinct preference for the major third over the minor second,
whilst the unmusical person is incapable of any such feeling,
we are again reduced to the conclusion that the question is
a psychical one, and that it is out of the reach of physics and
physiology to explain it.

(6.) Lastly : Beats being a physical phenomenon operating
according to constant law, it is possible to arrange, all the
chords and intervals in musical use in an exact order of
numerical merit according to the degrees of physical disso-

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1 66 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

nance, primary and derivative, produced by them. Such
tables may be found in most books treating of the subject ;
it will be sufficient to refer to Mr. Sedley Taylor's book
(Chapter viii.) and Dr. Pole's (Chapter xviii.) Lists of suc-
cessful candidates in an examination are sometimes arranged
in order of merit, sometimes in alphabetical order, and if in
any given case it so happened that these two orders coincided,
and that the order Brown, Green, Jones, Robinson, Smith,
Thompson, Walker, for instance, though alphabetical, hap-
pened really to be their order of merit, no one, unless he had
some special information to guide him, would suppose this
to be the case ; we should all be prepared to affirm that the
" cause," so to speak, of the order was alphabetical. But
supposing there had been a printer's error and an amended
list were subsequently published, the transposition of a single
name only, such as Smith before Robinson or Thompson
before Smith, would be sufficient to convince us that we had
been wrong in our previous surmise, and that the "cause"
of the order was the merit of the candidates, or at any rate
something other than the initial letters of their names. A
breakdown on one single point only is sufficient to stamp
the whole theory as a delusion. Approximations of corres-
pondence are of no logical value whatever in such matters.
It may be true, for instance, that out of the seven different
notes contained in our diatonic scale five of them are Har-
monics ; but in our supposed examination list six names out
of seven come in alphabetical order. We have in both cases
a coincidence merely, not a cause. Just so with these lists
of musical chords. If the list furnished us by the laws of
physical consonance does not coincide in every single point
with the order of psychic preference, then it is impossible to
establish any causative connection between them. But the
two lists differ, as all know, very widely indeed from each
other ; and on this point I cannot do better than refer you
to Mr. Sedley Taylor's invaluable book " Sound and Music"
(pp. 216, 217, 1883 ed.). He sums up the comparison thus: —
" Unquestionably," he says, "the ear's order of merit is not
the mechanical order." This being so there is nothing to be
gained by mincing matters ; we should deal with plain facts
in plain language. If psychical music has its basis in
physical, then these orders ought to correspond ; but as it
is admitted on all hands that they do not correspond, then
the basis of psychical music must be sought elsewhere. The
laws of physical difference, beautiful and instructive and
practically useful as they undoubtedly are, do not furnish
us with any clue to the laws of psychic preference, and the
sooner the descriptive classifications of intervals based on
them are expunged from the text books of musical theory
the better for musical education. The "equivocation," to

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 167

which allusion was made before as involved in applying the
terminology of physics to psychics is nowhere more marked
or more mischievous in its operations than here.

No doubt psychic music contains chords which, as the
phrase goes, demand resolution ; but this is not because they
are in themselves less agreeable in point of sonority than
so-called concords. Some may be so, but others certainly
are not. The chord of the diminished seventh, for instance,
for all its physical dissonance, is in itself far more pleasant
and satisfying to the musical soul whilst it lasts than the
physically immaculate combination of a note and its fifth.
The former is stated to be just 140 times more impure and
dissonant than the latter, yet in itself it is perhaps 140 times
as interesting and agreeable. The psychic distinction between
chords is not between concords and discords, consonances
and dissonances, but between dependent and independent,
complete and incomplete, gamic and agamic chords — chords,
that is, which in their walk through musical life require a
helpmeet to accompany them, and those which can wander
at their will alone and unassisted ; and that our sense of their
completeness or incompleteness, their single or their married
character has nothing whatever to do with physical consonance
and dissonance is placed beyond all question by the following
consideration. If in any place there is need of an absolute,
complete, and independent chord, it is at the final close of
a musical work. Now if our sense of such completeness
depends upon physical consonance, then that combination of
notes which presents the highest degree of consonance must
be the most complete and therefore the most satisfactory to
finish with. But the usual final chord, the tonic triad in its
first position, is not this. The order of consonant merit as
worked out by mathematical calculation is as follows (see
Dr. Pole's " Philosophyof Music," Chaps, xvii. and xviii.) ; the
figures given representing the relative degrees of dissonance
and impurity in each case. The unison and octave are
omitted from the list as being absolutely pure, and we start
with the fifth, giving it credit for absolute purity, though
this is, strictly speaking, more than its due., Counting then
the fifth as zero, the fourth comes next with two degrees of
impurity, the major sixth with three, and the major third with
eight. Now if we were obliged to end a piece of music
with a binary combination, other than the octave, we should
certainly choose the major third for the purpose, although it
is by many degrees the most impure of the lot. Neither does
a consideration of the complete triad lead to any other result.
A similarly constructed table gives us 28 as the degree of
impurity of the 5-3 or triad in its first position, 42 as that of
the 6-3 or first inversion ; whilst the 6-4 or second inversion
has only 13 degrees of impurity; in other words, is more than

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1 68 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

twice as pure as the 5-3. Whenever musical composers, then,
prefer -to terminate their compositions with a fifth or a fourth
instead of a third, if in two parts, or if in more than two
with a chord of the 6-4 rather than a 5-3, and can find a
musical public willing to acquiesce in such closes, it will then
be time enough to think that our sense of the completeness
or incompleteness of chords, of their dependence or inde-
pendence, and of their need of what we call preparation or
resolution, is due to their physical consonance or dissonance.

But it would not be fair to the subject of beats to quit it
without observing that though not in themselves, as we have
seen, a musical phenomenon, they are nevertheless of great
service to music. Those finer activities of our organism
which deal with the more delicate aspects of things around
us, such as colour, redolence, and musical sounds, soon lose
their power if forced into protracted or too fettered operation.
How soon after continuously smelling at it do we cease to
perceive the fragrance of heliotrope or honeysuckle ; and if
after an hour or so at the Royal Academy Exhibition one
day, we start on the next day with those pictures which
came last in our yesterday's survey we are astonished to find
how far more brilliant and vigorous are their colours than we
had yesterday imagined them to be. And just as the eye
loses its sensitiveness to colour, so does the ear its sensitive-
ness to pitch if occupied too long, too closely, and too
consciously with the same form of it. We may have the
most accurate sense of pitch possible, and yet if we had to
go hammering away at the same interval time after time as a
tuner has to do, we should soon find our musical ear getting
dull and confused if it was on that alone that we were relying
for our tuning. But the detection of the pulsations of sound,
and the timing of them to a second, is a purely mechanical
process which can be carried on without any such feeling of
weariness or confusion ; there is no more difficulty in it, and
no more refinement in it than there is in counting the clanks,
thuds, and throbs of the railway train. Musical physics, as
was previously stated, though they neither originate nor control
musical psychics, are of indispensable value to them when
brought into their service. Just as the laws of Harmonics
enable us to realise any special form of tone-quality the
musical imagination may for the occasion prefer, so the laws
of pulsation enable us to realise our preferences as regards
pitch to any desired degree of accuracy.

To return to our Harmonic series. Some interesting
questions arise out of the interval of the minor third as given
us by the fifth and sixth Harmonics, but there is no time to
discuss them now. Neither can we dwell as long as we could
wish on the seventh Harmonic, important as are its bearings in
more than one direction. It is admitted on nearly all hands

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 169

to be too flat to be used in composition, though, according to
Professor Macfarren (p. 222), the blame of this would seem
to lie with ourselves and not with Nature. In his view we
have, it seems, gone astray and done wickedly ; we have
rejected " the voice that breathed o'er Eden " in favour of a
siren seventh of questionable fame and unaccredited pedigree.
In spite of this, however, we are boldly bidden by both our
Professors to see in this seventh Harmonic of Nature our own
" Dominant Seventh," and we are invited to apply to it a
special treatment and a special nomenclature, in virtue of its
supposed natural origin. We are asked to see in it one of
those fundamental discords "the natural generation of which,"
to use the Cambridge Professor's language, " is accepted in
place of their artificial preparation."

The traveller in the Canton Berne — especially if he be
traversing that far-famed route from the Wengern Alp to
Rosenlaui over the Greater and the Lesser Scheidegg, has,
indeed, the satisfaction of enjoying one of the most fascinating
and impressive scenes accessible to the eye of man. But if
any of you have traversed, or were to traverse this route, you
would know that your enjoyment does not end here. The
considerate and hospitable inhabitants of those parts outvie
even Nature herself in the varied entertainments they so
prodigally provide for you. At no portion of your course
are you permitted to feel that you are a stranger in a solitary
land. When barely out of sight of your hotel you are
greeted by the wood-carver, who insists on your sharing
with him his crude representations of ibex, bear, or William
Tell. A little further on you will find your path obstructed
by a long-legged youth struggling with three or four St.
Bernard pups, without which no Englishman — such is his
fixed impression — would dare to face the horrors of the
return passage from Calais to Dover. Next, at artistically
arranged intervals, you are offered unripe pears or plums,
mineralogical specimens, as well as the horn, and possibly
the skin, of the domestic goat, under the more romantic
appellation of chamois ; these will be followed by garlands
of Alpine rose, a bundle of home-knitted socks, butterflies
or beetles on pins, together with five children singing a
hymn and holding bunches of edelweiss or polystichum
lonchitis in their hands. At some particularly dusty and
glaring portion of the route will be a shady alcove of pine-
wood, in which you will be invited to repose awhile and
partake of mountain strawberries at imperial rather than
republican prices. Right and left of this, as supports to
the structure, are rustic temples, over one of which is
inscribed the mystic legend, " Ici on peut voir le chamois
vivant," whilst in the portico of the other squats a cretin
" making mouths at you and ceasing not," and nursing a fat

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170 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

marmot the while. But the supreme ecstatic moment is yet
to come. Posted on an eminence from which the approach
of the tourist may be commanded in every direction, and
from which the sonorous waves can circle out on all sides
unchecked, stands the man with the Alpine horn, ready to
play " The Harmonic Fantasia" — Nature's masterpiece.
Here is an opportunity for purifying our diseased musical
sense, and for recalling it to a memory of better things ; here
is a natural "tonic" by which it may be strengthened to
throw off the "sophistications," as Sir George calls them
(p. 222), of civilised life. I will not venture to surmise what
would be your conduct in view of such an opportunity, still
less to estimate your appreciation of its regenerative value by
my own ; but / am hardened enough to admit that however
patiently I may have acquiesced in the other beguilements of
the way, this final one settles me. Confronted by it I see
but two courses open. The one is to steal quickly and
quietly up to the man before he has time to begin, to slip
half a franc into his hand (nothing less will do), to look
appealingly at him and say: " Mein guter Freund, Sie spielen
ja ausserordentlich hiibsch, habe es schon von Weitem mit
Erstaunen gehort ; aber, wenn ich freundlichst bitten darf—
meine Frau kommt soeben, und sie ist leider sehr krank,
Nerven fieber, u.s.w." In fact, I buy him off with coin and a
lie. I am only too glad to sell my musical birthright if he
will only give me time to do so. But if it be too late, then
however hot the day, or faint my frame, I put my fingers in
my ears and run. John Bunyan's Timorous and Mistrust
did not run further or faster. At such a moment, however,
it is sweet to think that, after all, I am running in good
company.

Professor Macfarren tells us more than once that the ear
will often accept the actual sound presented to it for some
other sound which (theoretically) ought to be presented to it ;
but from the language used with regard to this seventh
Harmonic, which he characterises as "inadmissible in
cultivated musical society" (p. 222), it is clear that he
regards it as a case which this "acceptance" principle will
not cover. He, too, would do something to stop the mouth
of the horn player. All the same we are asked, for the sake
of the theory , to regard our Dominant seventh, and the horn's
seventh, as interchangeable. But letting this inconsistency
pass, we are confronted with a much more serious difficulty in
the way of any such derivation. Even were the pitch of the two
sevenths absolutely identical, the chord as given us harmoni-
cally is not a dominant chord at all. Nature knows nothing
of dominants, or sub-dominants; she deals with one note only,
in which she includes as partials the series of Harmonics
referred to. The chord, therefore, as thus given us, is a flat

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 171

seventh on a tonic, not on a dominant. An F natural, which
is the Dominant seventh in our key of C, is, in Nature, an im-
possibility ; no such Harmonic can exist without violating the
law by which the series is governed. By that law no notes
can be produced as Harmonics which bear a relation to the
ground note, the fraction expressing which has an odd
instead of an even number for its denominator. In examining
last time the proposed derivation of the diatonic scale from
Harmonics, we allowed, for the sake of the argument, that
there were such Harmonics as F and A, but, as a matter of
fact, a fourth with the vibration fraction of 4:3, or a sixth
with that of 5:3, cannot appear in the Harmonic series. The
tonic note, then, can never give us a dominant seventh
among its Harmonics. But perhaps it may be urged that
this B flat, although a tonic seventh in the key of C, is a
dominant seventh in the key of F. This is indeed true, but
then we are introducing a purely psychic element into the
problem. If it be a dominant seventh in the key of F, it is
so simply because our brain, in its dealings with the question,
chooses to make it so. Physical law has nothing to do with
this exercise of our musical imagination. So far as Nature is
concerned she has never even heard that there be a key of F,
for the simple reason that (as we have seen) an F itself, as a
Harmonic, is unobtainable. A chord, then, having for its
bass a fifth from a given note or tonic, and containing a flat
seventh from that bass — that is to say, a chord of the dominant
seventh — is, in the immutable system of Nature, an impossi-
bility. The poverty-stricken creature can no more furnish
us with such a chord than she can furnish us with a diatonic
scale containing a fourth and a sixth degree. But if such
keystones of music as the scale and the chord of the dominant
seventh are purely psychic creations, having no physical
counterpart, how strange it is to tell us at Oxford (Ouseley's
Harmony, p. 14) that " the origin of harmony must be
sought in natural phenomena," or at Cambridge (Macfarren's
Lectures, p. 94) that " the phenomenon that every musical
sound generates others is the basis of the free style of
harmony."

But in this matter Nature is more than merely negatively
churlish ; she not only declines to provide us even with straw
for our bricks, but she does her best to bring our building
down about our ears. In this seventh Harmonic she is
unkind enough to fly in the face of our most cherished
psychic principles. She strikes at the heart of our whole
tonal system. The addition of this B flat to the previous
Harmonics makes our continuance in the chord of C im-
possible. Our musical sense imperatively demands that the
chord as there given should move on to a chord containing
F and A, the very two notes of our scale which it is im-

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172 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

possible for Nature to furnish. Here indeed is chaos and
confusion with a vengeance. Just when the addition of the
fifth and sixth Harmonics has begun to make us feel as
though we were settling down into a key of some kind, the
seventh explodes like a torpedo under our feet, and scatters
us to the four winds. Nature ejects us from hearth and home
without the slightest pity, and refuses to provide us with any
sort of refuge. We are left to drift aimlessly in mid air like
the dust of a Java volcano. We are as helplessly stranded as
a colony of starfish when the tide goes down.

This seventh Harmonic introduces us, according to the
theory, to our first " fundamental discord." The raison d'etre
of this particular system of chord classification is thus stated
by Professor Macfarren on page 97 of his Lectures. The old
rule, he tells us was " that, to lessen the asperity of a discord,
every dissonant note — save only passing notes — must be
* prepared.' The minor seventh, however, together with the
major third, belongs to the series of Harmonics, and is thus
naturally prepared whenever its generator is sounded ; our
singing or playing this combination of notes is, then, but a
stronger articulation of sounds that are already throbbing in the
air. The artificial preparation or foresounding of a dissonant
note to mitigate its harshness is superseded by the affinity of
this generated discord to its cognate sounds." To put it
briefly, and in the concrete — the F of the dominant seventh
in C, according to the old rule, must have been sounded in
the previous chord ; according to the new theory it is prepared
because it is already sounding as a Harmonic. But how,
in the case supposed, can this be ? We sound the notes of
our chord simultaneously ; we do not sound the G (and there-
fore set the F, its seventh Harmonic, vibrating) before the F of
our chord is sounded. There can be no "preparation " in this
sense. Neither can we say that the dissonance is prepared
by being given in the tonic or key-note, for, as we have seen,
the note F is not an upper partial of C. Is it meant, per-
chance, that G being a Harmonic of C, and F being a
Harmonic of G, F is sounded in C at second hand, as it
were, being a Harmonic of a Harmonic of the tonic ? Mr.
Capes, perhaps, might have been taken to mean this ; he
(Sec. 38, p. 40) uses language which implies that Harmonics
are themselves composite and not simple tones ; but Professor
Macfarren certainly would not countenance such a view. Or
is it meant that a dominant seventh can follow a Chord of C
without preparation, because that Chord contains the note G,
of which F is a Harmonic ? If this had been meant, we
venture to think that other language than that just now read
would have been (as it certainly ought to have been) used to
describe this process of preparation. But if this interpreta-
tion were correct, the explanation is insufficient to meet the

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 173

case ; for we certainly do not confine our unprepared use of
the dominant seventh to cases in which the preceding chord
contains the dominant. It will follow just as satisfactorily
on a chord of the sub-mediant —

a chord of which (oddly enough) two of the notes are
incapable of producing an F among their Harmonics, whilst
the third produces it so remotely as to be practically beside
the question. What the fundamental discord theory really
means is somewhat difficult to determine ; the point, however,
with which we are here concerned is whether its assumed
basis in nature can be substantiated. So long as this or that
system of Harmony claims to be based upon external law, it
occupies a charmed position. It is no use to point out that
it is unintelligible or inconsistent, or that the chord-tabulation
it provides is cumbrous and contradictory. The authors of
such theories can always entrench themselves in the scientific
citadel ; their theories cannot be " unintelligible," they will
say, because they are the necessary outcome of physical law ;
they cannot be " inconsistent," because they are physical
truth ; the eternal and immutable, we shall be told, can never
be "cumbrous" or "contradictory." The necessity, there-
fore, of attacking the idea that music is determined by
physical causes is obvious, for, until this fundamental principle
has been proved unsound, we are not allowed to come to close
quarters with these theories or to criticise them on their own
merits. It is just on this account that it has been thought
desirable to raise this whole question.

Throughout this enquiry we have made a concession, with-
out which it would have been impossible to discuss these
matters at all ; but we must now withdraw it, for fear it
might hereafter be assumed that the concession was a real
one, and not merely made for logical convenience. The
theory supposes that the natural ear has the power of
detecting these Harmonics, even (as we have seen) up to
their fifth and sixth octaves. But as a matter of fact the ear
has no such power in the sense required. As no one would
contend that we can detect the higher Harmonics, it will be
sufficient to treat the matter as referring to those seven
only which we have been considering. What the theory
demands is that, given one note, the ear is able to detect and
isolate the six others in such a way that they become distinct
entities in our brain, and that, too, be it remembered, without
any previous knowledge of the physical existence of such
notes, and without the mechanical assistance of resonance or

174 0 }t Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

resonator. This ability the ear most certainly does not
possess. The utmost that scientific writers have ventured
to claim for it is contained in such expressions as the
following : —

"It is possible* (writes Dr. Stone, " Elementary Lessons on
Sound," page 113) for the unassisted ear to resolve musical
tones, in some degree, into their component partials. The
analysis requires considerable practice, and at first is difficult.
Success depends upon the power of concentrating the attention
upon the sounds sought for, aided by proper methods for
guiding the observer's ear towards the phenomena of which
he is in search. It is advisable just before producing the
musical tone which it is wished to analyse to sound the note
to be distinguished in it very gently, and, if possible, in the
same quality of tone. The piano and harmonium answer
well for such experiments, on account of the power of their
upper partials."

Mr. Sedley Taylor also gives a similar description (see
pages 88 and 89 of the 1883 edition) of the way in which "the
ear is (p. 148) enabled by suitably directed and assisted efforts"
to make the analysis.

But if it is only with all these elaborate limitations of initial
failure, persevering practice, suitable direction and assistance,
specially selected instruments and pitch, that we are
eventually enabled to detect just the " advanced guard," as it
were, of these Harmonics, then this power is really so feeble,
so exceptional, and so conditioned as to make its employment
as the basis of musical theory nothing short of ridiculous.
Moreover, in all these descriptions of its application it is
assumed that we are already acquainted with the note we are
in search of, that we hear it in our imagination, nay, we are
even advised to sound it mechanically beforehand. But the
theory, on the other hand, does not suppose that we have the
note to start with at all, but that we become originally
acquainted with it by detecting it among the Harmonics.
Further, if music has been in any way dependent upon the
exercise of this power, it is, to say the least, remarkable that
more than 5,000 years should have elapsed from the days of
Tubal Cain to the time when we discovered that we
possessed it, and were first made aware of some of the
important results due to its employment.

Take a chorister, with good musical ear ; tell him (if you
like) that a musical note contains many others, but do not tell
him what notes these are; let him have free access to a
harmonium, or some strongly harmonie'd instrument, and
point out a suitable note for him to experiment on ; promise
him five pounds whenever he can bring you a list of its upper
partials. If without any more knowledge or assistance than

* The italics are my own.

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 175

is here supposed, he will at the end of a week, a month, or a
year, bring you a correct table of Harmonics up to the
seventh, it will then be time to think that the ear has some
such power as that imagined.

Let it not be thought that it is here implied that the ear
does not in any sense hear Harmonics. Of course we hear
them in one sense, otherwise there would be no such thing as
quality in sound. But we hear them as a compound effect,
and not as isolated separable sounds ; we are conscious of the
combined unresolved result, but, unassisted, cannot detect its
factors or resolve it into them.

Two other points only remain to be noticed.

First. — If our familiarity with Nature's music, as given in
Harmonics, is the cause and origin of psychic music, and we
like this, or deal in a particular way with that because Nature
gives it — then, of course, we ought to like whatever she has
given us and nothing else. Our music should consist of
Harmonics, all the Harmonics, and nothing but the Har-
monics. But some of our most important chords, notably
(as we have just seen) the Dominant Seventh, are not in
the Harmonic series at all, and so far from our using all
Harmonics, we are told that this, that, and the other member
of the series is " irrelevant " (Stone's " Scientific Basis of
Music," p. 9 ; " Sound," p. 5), or that 14 we select such and such
as available for use " and not others (Macfarren, pp. 97, 98).
But these words, " relevance," " selection," " availability,"
themselves imply the existence of some other standard of
excellence than Nature's, and the exercise of some inde-
pendent judgment which criticises her taste and disputes •
her authority. Here again we are confronted by the fact
that the brain is master of the brain's music, and that the
musical imagination, and not natural or mathematical law,
is the fount and source of our musical system.

The second point is this : — Beats and Harmonics are facts
of Nature of the most universal and immutable kind. They
have operated from the beginning of all things all the world
over. They are part of the great Quod semper, quod
ubique, quod ab omnibus. If then they are the controlling
cause of man's music, the music of all ages and of all nations
ought to be alike. There ought to be as absolute a uniformity
in this matter as there is, for instance, in our use of numbers.
Two and two have made, do make, and will make four all
the world over wherever there is a human brain capable
of the process of numeration. But the world's music is
Babel ; every race, .every clime, every epoch has had scales
and intervals of its own. If then, amid all these varieties
of musical consequents, the physical and physiological ante-
cedents have throughout been the same, it is clear that the
differentiating cause resides in those as yet unrevealed factors

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176 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition,

of the problem which are contributed by the brain. The
origin of music is neither physical nor physiological, but
psychical, and it is only by methods of psychic analysis
and observation that we can hope to explain it. The
attempt to solve these questions by reference to Harmonics
only results in obscurity and contradiction. Neither do
those theories meet with better success which, whilst giving
the brain power of choice with one hand, really take it away
with the other by assuming that its choice is controlled
either by " the peculiar charm of simple ratios " (as the
mathematician, Euler, puts it), or as the more recent "physical
dissonance " theory implies by a consistent preference for
smooth and continuous over rough and intermittent tones.
There is no evidence that it is influenced by either of
these determining principles ; the evidence is strongly the
other way. " Undoubtedly," as Mr. Sedley Taylor says,
11 the ear's order of merit is not the mechanical order."
"The natural phenomena" (of physical dissonance, &c),
says Professor Helmholtz (p. 357), " present themselves
mechanically, without any choice, to all living beings whose
ears are constructed on the same anatomical plan as our
own. . . . But in the theory of music we have a
problem which by its very nature belongs to the domain
of aesthetics." Even Mr. Capes, who starts (p. 17) with the
magnificent assurance " that in the great overlooked fact of
the composite nature of every musical sound is to be per-
ceived the actual origin of the major scale, and the
explanation of the mysterious growth of the musical art
from Palestrina to Beethoven," is obliged eventually to
admit (p. 90) " that the phenomena of acoustics render all
strictly logical identification of theoretical scales with the
mysteries of musical sound, as apprehended] by the mind,
impossible."

Music, in fine, is man's work, not Nature's. It is the
free, spontaneous, irresponsible, autocratic utterance of the
soul, and the soul alone can pass judgment on it. Acoustics
are the handmaid of music, indeed its most serviceable
handmaid, but they do not possess the keys of the musical
laboratory, still less are they able to furnish us with any
" exposition " of the processes which are carried on within
its walls.

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 177

DISCUSSION.

The Chairman. — Ladies and gentlemen, the view which
may be taken of Mr. Cobb's paper by the learned theorists
whom I see around me remains to be proved, but I think you
will all cordially agree that a more suggestive paper, or one
in which the views of the lecturer have been more admirably
expressed, has seldom been read in this room. I trust we
shall now have a good discussion, and I hope Sir George
Macfarren will favour us with his views.

Sir George Macfarren. — Am I to suppose by this invita-
tion that I am put upon my trial, and that I am to be confronted
in disputation with a lecturer whose eloquence, whose learn-
ing, whose reading of all the writers for and against the subject
he has discussed is manifest, and who has shown authority
for everything he has said ? If that is to be the case, I feel
myself at a serious disadvantage in having no immediate
preparation, either to receive the attack or rebut it. I most
thoroughly respect the care which has been bestowed and the
argument which has been brought forward, but yet I am
unable to accept it. In the first instance, we are told to-day
that the interval of the fifth is tolerable, but not admirable
— that we receive it, but do not seek it. Now, I have
heard a theory to account for the objection felt to the pro-
gression of parts in fifths, that a fifth was so extremely
beautiful as to overwhelm sense with delight and render
impossible for the human organ to accept a succession
of such beauty — being entirely suffused with the excellence
of the first fifth, one could not plunge into another — such
dissipation would be too much for us. Without pretending
to agree with so very strong* an opinion, it still may be
adduced as showing that everybody does not feel the bare
insipidity of the fifth which at the beginning of our lecture
was said to prevail. Nay, there are cases in which the
bare interval of the fifth has a peculiarly satisfactory musical
effect. I might cite instances of the commencement of a
piece of music with a bare fifth, and I might cite instances
of the close of a piece of music with a bare fifth, and neither
the one nor the other is unsatisfactory or inappropriate to the
expression intended. As to the effect of beats, and whether
we listen to them or count them, I believe we no more do so
than the person who contemplates a picture counts the rays
that combine to make a single colour, but that the more or
less distinctness of beats has an important effect on musical
sound is manifest in the particular force that is given to a
discordant harmony when two instruments of the same
quality, such as two horns, two clarinets, or two hautboys,
have to sound the interval of a second. The amount of tone
that reaches the audience in that case is far greater than

N

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178 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

when one horn sounds one note and one clarinet sounds the
other in this conjunct relationship. I think the effect of this
great discordance, springing from beats or otherwise, is
important to the composer as directing him to lay out the
position of the notes so as-to produce the greatest power. It
was said— and there is, to my feeling, a most important truth
in the statement — that the brain has the selective habit of
taking from the multitude of natural facts those particular
instances which are pertinent to the occasion. So it is in
other arts as much as it is in music. It is by no means the
case that the painter is to use tints of all colours, although
the science of optics teaches us that every colour is combined
in each single ray of light, but he separates certain particular
colours as appropriate to the object which he wishes to
delineate. The fact that the Dominant seventh disagrees
with the tempered seventh is not, I think, to the advantage of
the Dominant seventh. I have heard, on an instrument tuned
for the purpose of experimenting, a chord of the Dominant
seventh, as it is familiarly named, played with the seventh
flattened to the pitch of nature, and, according to my dull
power of appreciation, that was a far more beautiful sound
than the chord as played on the ordinary pianoforte. It is
alleged that the chord of the Dominant seventh is not included
in the Harmonic series, but surely the third in that chord is
the fifteenth Harmonic, and the seventh in that chord is the
twenty-first Harmonic generated by the tonic. Proceeding
higher in the Harmonic column, we find the fifth major third
and seventh of the supertonic also evolved from the tonic, as
indeed is every sound available in chromatic harmony,
including those delicate inflections which are too minute for
intonation on keyed instruments, but which give priceless
beauty to vocal performances and to music rendered on
strings stopped by the fingers. The theory which my late
friend Alfred Day enunciated to the world, that those three
notes— viz., the tonic, the dominant, and the supertonic — yield
combinations which are available in musical composition, and
that accounts for the progression which some composers had,
with beautiful effect, employed as directed by their own
intuition of beauty before theory traced a line by which they
might proceed. I think Day's view is so far satisfactory that
it explains many passages previously inexplicable by the
theories at that time in credit, and includes in its explanation
everything with which my musical reading has yet made me
acquainted. However, the discussion is not as to the merit
of this one theorist, but as to the whole principle of music
resting upon any theory, of its springing from natural laws or
of its being empirically originated at the caprice of human
fancy. We are to refer to psychic principles rather than to
physics for our art, that is, to make art arbitrary, accidental,

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 179

and wilful, and the artist is to plunge into a vast ocean of
experiment, with no chart to direct his course, and nothing
to aid him to distinguish between the proprieties or the
improprieties of his proceedings. Surely upon these grounds
nothing could be too gross for acceptance ; nothing could
justify objection if we were tp be guided by impressions, and
nothing but impressions. It would thus depend wholly and
only upon the amount of cultivation in a particular state of
society as to what is to be tolerated and admired, and what is
to be excluded. I believe that it is essential to musical art as
much as to the other artistic applications of natural principles
that we should work upon a grammar ; that we should believe
in propriety and impropriety. The fact that music has
differed in different ages and in different nations seems to
me to accord with ethnology ; that the whole habits of
different populations and different times vary from those of
other times, and that each race has its own moral code as
much as it has its own art code. We experiment forward
and forward until we find the explanation of the principles
upon which art is founded, and by which it is to be guided. I
think it would be dangerous to art of any kind to trust it
wholly to impression and to habit, unless the habit itself
were directed by some ruling principle. If the expression,
quoted " discord prepared by nature," be illogical, let me
plead guilty to the impropriety of words ; let us say, not that
it is prepared by nature for such and such a sound to be
mitigated in its harshness, but that nature gives us these
sounds co-incidentally, and that our playing them is only
manifesting more forcibly what already exists. We do not
habitually attend minutely to the separation of the notes
of the Harmonic column, but I have again and again in very
early days listened to the vibrations as they rise one after
another from a low pianoforte string when the damper was
kept raised, and I have heard most distinctly as far as the fifth
Harmonic from that string. I have even heard not long since,
when Mr. Maycock showed me the experiment on a bass
clarinet with an extra limb which made it sound the low
B flat, the experiment, namely, of playing that note until,
while it was sustained, its eighth and twelfth became suc-
cessively audible ; the natural limit to the powers of respiration
prevented this admirable artist from prolonging the note until
its higher Harmonics became evident. The presence of those
notes in succession proves the fact of their generation by the
fundamental note. I believe had I been able to take notes
of what has been said, and had time for deliberation, I might
meet some of Mr. Cobb's eloquent arguments. If I say so
little you must not attribute it to the want of material, but
to the impossibility I have had of preparing what might
be to say, and of arranging it categorically in order of reply.

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180 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition,

I must offer my tribute of sincere admiration to the speaker
for the paper he has given us, and for the grounds he lays
open, and I shall most certainly in private if not at this
meeting, when I have had the opportunity of inspecting the
arguments in the printed records, discuss more fully than I
have now the points in question.

Mr. Prout. — Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I should like
to begin the few words with which I shall have to detain you
by cordially endorsing everything that has been said about
the most able and interesting paper we have had from our
friend Mr. Cobb. I differ entirely, I may say at once, from
a great deal of what he has advanced, because I must confess
myself a convert to the principles described by our friend
Sir George Macfarren as put forth by the late Dr. Alfred
Day. I do not wish to go into a defence of that system,
especially as Sir George is much better able to do it, but I
would like to represent the matter from one point of view. I
lay no claim, of course, to be an authority in matters of
theory, but I can speak from some experience as a teacher
of harmony. It occurred to me that Mr. Cobb, if he will
excuse me saying so, appeared somewhat in the character of
Mephistopheles in " Faust" — " Der Geist der stets verneint."
I do not mean anything disrespectful, but he seemed to me
to manifest the spirit of always denying everything. The
whole of his paper appeared to me to be knocking some-
thing down, and I should like to ask him what he can
give us to put in its place. I taught harmony first from
Goss's system, then from Richter's, but so long as I taught
harmony from those systems I was always confronted with
these difficulties : in the first place, there were about as
many exceptions as there were rules, and in the second
place the large majority of the rules were broken in the
examples. Then I was fortunate enough some few years
since to make the acquaintance at the Royal Academy of
Sir George Macfarren's book. I do not want to stand here
as a partisan of Sir George, who is quite able to take care
of himself, but I simply mention it as a matter of my own
experience. That book had one merit, at all events, it was
perfectly coherent and consistent with itself, and it explained
everything which I could not find explained in other books
which I had consulted. That system, as you all know, is
based upon this natural Harmonic system of which we have
heard a great deal from Mr. Cobb, and something from Sir
George this afternoon. I do not say that it is necessarily
and absolutely the only system, but I do say that it possesses
this great advantage, as far as my experience goes, over all
others, that you can explain everything by it, and if it is only
a coincidence that you can explain everything by it that you
cannot explain by any other theory, if the coincidences are

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 181

so numerous as to be absolutely marvellous and unaccountable,
how is it ? I have analysed some of Wagner's scores with
my class — I am afraid Sir George Macfarren may think that
rather a waste of time — for instance, part of " Tristan and
Isolde " ; I analysed it by Sir George's own theory, by the
aid of his own book, and I did not find anything there which
could not be explained — although there were certainly some
difficult nuts to crack — by that theory. I do not think that
can be said of many other theories. There, at any rate, is a
system perfectly coherent with itself which explains every-
thing on one sound basis. Let us assume, for the sake of the
argument, that Mr. Cobb is correct in saying it has nothing
to do with physical laws, but if so, what is he going to give
us instead ? Is it not a very curious coincidence, to say the
least of it, that these physical laws explain anything, and
that no other system which I have been fortunate enough to
meet with does do so? I should like simply, in conclusion,
to ask Mr. Cobb if he would be kind enough to tell us in a
few words what he proposes to put in place of this system he
would destroy.

Mr. Charles Stephens. — I have only a few words to say,
and perhaps they may be listened to with some interest,
simply because I am a very steadfast opponent of that
theory which Mr. Prout has just been advocating. I have
in this room read a paper on the subject, and I hope
we shall at some future time have an opportunity of further
discussing the matter. However, now, of course, would
not be the time to enter into that very extensive, and, as I
think, important subject, but I would wish, in corro-
boration of what Mr. Prout says about what Mr. Cobb
would offer us in future as a substitute for Harmonic laws,
to point out that if they are not to be followed — if nature's
rules and nature's dictates are not to be followed in our
scale, then any one scale anyone may choose to invent is as
good as another. We should have no ground on which we
could fix the major third, the minor third, the sixth, or any
interval that already exists. It would then appear that our scale
is wholly empirical, and that it might have been anything else,
and for aught we know, we might be labouring in error, and the
Chinese or Persian scales might be far preferable to ours. I
do think that there is so much in our scale that is positively
traceable to nature that it is a pity to give up altogether the
connection between the two. It is possible that we may be
able to find something to reconcile the differences that do
exist, and I acknowledge that one in particular which confronts
us almost at the outset, that is the Harmonic seventh, which
I confess I do not find so agreeable as Sir George Macfarren
does ; but unless we look to nature, or to something to fix our
intervals, every system must be regarded as purely empirical.

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1 82 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

What is a major third ? A product of nature, and that
minor third which the major fifth makes with it is also a
product of nature. Those intervals, in fact every interval in
our scale except the second and the seventh, are afforded
us by what I conceive to be, not upon Dr. Day's theory, the
true foundation of the diatonic scale, that is the key note
itself with its surroundings of the under dominant and the
over dominant. The two principal Harmonics in each case
give us the whole scale upon which we at present work. I
feel that this lands us also in a difficulty, because if our three
triads so produced are perfectly in tune, there are other
intermediate intervals which become erroneous. I need
hardly mention the well known case of the supertonic and
the sixth note of the scale, which, derived as I derive them,
do not form a true fifth, but then you must remember that the
supertonic diatonic triad is not a root chord. I fear, were I
to pursue my argument any further, I should tire you, but I
return to the simple statement, that if we are not to follow
nature in any of these intervals, then it is open for anyone
who chooses to run riot and invent his own intervals with
any preparation or absence of preparation which he or she
may choose. I perfectly agree with Sir George Macfarren
that there must be law and order in these things, and we only
follow the dictates of God Himself, I may urge, when we say
let there be order in what we do. I do not concede that our
art is one which has no foundation whatever, that it is purely
empirical, and that anyone may make it what he chooses.

The Chairman. — If no one has anything further to say
at present, I will call upon Mr. Cobb to reply to what has
been said.

Mr. Cobb. — I was of course perfectly prepared to have it
thrown in my teeth that I have been knocking down and
not building up, but that course is inseparable from any
systematic, thorough attack upon what may be called a
fundamental principle or position. I am afraid that if I
had endeavoured to interpolate into my destructive remarks
any observations as to what I conceive to be the true
methods, or any system that might be substituted for it,
I should have had to ask you kindly to give me two more
meetings at least, and, therefore, I have throughout of settled
purpose rigidly struck out the few words here and there in
which I had indicated psychic principles upon which, as I
conceive, these questions should be dealt with. I rigidly cut
out all constructive matter, and confined myself entirely to
what may be called the destructive position. I can only say
that I hope what I have said may be my justification for
having done so, because I pointed out this, that so long as
the theories in question maintain the position of being based
upon nature, we really cannot get to close quarters with them,

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On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition. 183

and to dislodge them was the great object I had in introducing
the subject in the barely negative form. Without wishing
to go into details as regards any system that I should be
prepared to suggest in its place, I can only say that I am
not without ideas on the subject, and that if I have an
opportunity on some future occasion of stating them I
should be very glad to do so. With reference to the remarks
that fell from Sir George Macfarren with regard to the fifths,
I especially said I made exceptions where they were used for
special effects. I am perfectly aware that no less approved
a musical work than the Choral Symphony of Beethoven
begins in that way, and that some works even finish with a
bare fifth, although I never heard one yet which had not the
effect of sending me away with a feeling of extreme dissatis-
faction. Then with regard to beats; the instances that
Sir George brought forward are such as I made especial
allowance for. I said, of course there were cases in which
with special instruments we did hear these beats, and the
particular case he instanced is just one of those points in
which I should say most distinctly that acoustic knowledge
is of extreme importance, the case of dealing with what
is called resultant quality: but this has nothing to do
with the question of whether we prefer a system of chords
classified by dissonance to a system classified by some other
principle. With regard to the argument that unless we base
these things on physical law they must really be arbitrary,
surely psychical law is just as legal, just as binding as
physical ; there is just as much a form and method in
psychics as in anything else. The facts of our brain are
facts which may be registered, noted, recognised, felt by all
when appealed to. Our whole common every-day life is
bound up with operations founded on what are called psychic
laws. It does not follow that because you cannot base
a thing upon external physical laws, and make it the
subject of physical observation, that, therefore, you have
chaos or confusion. There is such a thing in all these
matters as what we call communis sensus ; there is a typical
feeling. That feeling, of course, may vary in different ages,
different generations, different climates, and different con-
ditions of society; but in all matters of art there is what
you may call a solid consensus as to fact, something axio-
matic that we may be expected to accept. But our business
is not to go and hunt up in natural laws for these things,
because, as I venture to think I have proved, although we
may establish a series of coincidences, the exceptions in
which those coincidences do not occur are quite sufficient to
show that there is no logical connection whatever between
them. Instead of going to these physical phenomena, what
we ought to do is carefully to register and note our psychical

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184 On Certain Principles of Musical Exposition.

phenomena. They are just as definable as the others ; they
only want more careful observation, greater freedom from
anything like prejudice or previously settled theories ; they
want to be approached with an entirely unbiassed mind ; but
still, so approached and so observed, they may be, and have
been made, the basis of perfect systems. There need be
nothing arbitrary. The common instinct of the musical
community is the standard to be appealed to. It is not
that every one may go and say, This, because it appears
to my brain to be so, is music ; far from that, it has to be
tested by the communis sensus before it becomes an accepted
fact.

A vote of thanks was then passed to Mr. Cobb for his
paper and the Chairman for presiding.

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